Pasadena weekend: March 27-29

Learn how to lower your carbon footprint; share your backyard bounty. Plus: ongoing and recurring events.

Climate change. On Sunday, Throop Church and Transition Pasadena will host the second workshop in a series of events titled "Thirty Days for the Earth": Climate scientist Peter Kalmus will share how he and his family came to experience "The Joy of Low-Energy Living." Participants will learn how to calculate their carbon footprint and what they can do to decrease their impact on the planet.

Share Faire. On Sunday afternoon RIPE Altadena will host its monthly Share Faire in the Park.

Gardening. On Friday morning the Hahamongna Nursery will host a work day for gardeners that includes planting and information about growing native plants. Transition Pasadena's Throop Learning Garden will meet on Sunday morning.

Walks, self-guided and docent-led. The Huntington's urban agricultural site, the Ranch Garden, will be open for self-guided tours on Saturday morning. Descanso Gardens (La Canada) is hosting docent-guided seasonal walks on Saturday and Sunday morning. On Friday and Saturday morning, the Arboretum (Arcadia) has docent-led walking tours on the calendar.

Bicycling. On Sunday morning the Pasadena Cyclery will host a ride and clinic for beginner riders just starting out or for riders wanting to cycle more effectively.

Kids. On Saturday morning, the Eaton Canyon Nature Center is hosting a family nature walk. Bring your small children, walking shoes, sunscreen, water and a hat. Also on Saturday morning at the Nature Center: the weekly Nature Tails Story Hour which includes stories, nature walks and puppet shows for children ages 3-5.

Petition. Change.org's petition for a ban of styrofoam containers in Pasadena is still up and active.

Exhibition. As part of the Pasadena Arts Council's AxS Festival 2014, the Armory presents Karin Apollonia Müller's World’s Edge, a photographic exploration of the intersection between the natural landscape and complex urbanization. Ends this summer.

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Unless otherwise noted, all events take place in Pasadena. For times, addresses and other details click on the link to the event owner's webpage.

Pasadena weekend: December 19-21

Join others on walking tours, celebrate the season. Plus: ongoing and recurring events, and this week's random read.

Holiday Party Potluck. Transition Pasadena, Throop UU Church and Throop Learning Garden are hosting a Holiday Party Potluck. The event features a cookie swap and a plant swap, music, crafts and more.

Walking tours. The Arboretum will hold walking tours on Friday and Saturday morning.

The Arroyo Food Co-op is now open on Saturdays and Sundays for shopping and pick-ups. Orders placed online by Sunday midnight will be available for pick-up starting next Tuesday.

Gardening. Transition Pasadena's Throop Learning Garden (usually) meets on Sunday mornings.

Survey. Pasadena Water and Power is conducting a survey on the city's energy future. To participate go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PWP_Energy_Future2014. (Note: PWP has not posted any information on when the survey period ends, but as of this printing the link was still up.)

Cycling. On Sunday morning Pasadena Cyclery will hold Gwen's Group Ride and the Sunday Morning Neighborhood Stroll. For details see the calendar page of Pasastainable, CA.

Got kids? On Saturday morning, the Eaton Canyon Nature Center is hosting a family nature walk. Bring your small children, walking shoes, sunscreen, water and a hat. Also on Saturday morning at the Nature Center: the weekly Nature Tails Story Hour which includes stories, nature walks and puppet shows for children ages 3-5.

Exhibition, continuing. As part of the Pasadena Arts Council's AxS Festival, the Armory presents Karin Apollonia Müller's World’s Edge, a photographic exploration of the intersection between the natural landscape and complex urbanization. Ends next summer.

Random read. When the residents of Shishmaref, Alaska, voted to collectively move to safer ground in July of 2002, their small town became an overnight sensation: More than five dozen news crews visited Sarichef, the island Shishmaref sits on, in 2003 and 2004 alone. But 12 years after the vote, the town of 563 people remains where it always has been, while the threat that the rising ocean might wash over it has only intensified. The Huffington Post's environment and energy editor, Kate Sheppard, has documented Shishmaref's journey from hopeful to hesitant and back in a story titled Climate Change Takes a Village. Considering that 16.4 million Americans live in coastal areas prone to flooding, her reportage leaves the reader with this question: "If we can't figure out how to save a village with fewer than 600 people from falling into the sea, what hope is there for everyone else?"

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Unless otherwise noted, all events take place in Pasadena. For times, addresses and other details please see the calendar page of Pasastainable, CA or the event owner's webpage.

Pasadena weekend: What to do August 8-10

Events around gardening and native plants rule the weekend.

Native plants. On Saturday afternoon, Transition Pasadena's Throop Learning Garden hosts California Native Plants: The Big Picture, a presentation by Lisa Novick of the Theodore Payne Foundation. Novick will share her knowledge on the topics of water conservation, habitat preservation and planting with native plants and edibles. On Sunday morning, the California Native Plant Society is holding a walk at the Eaton Canyon Nature Center. For Saturday and Sunday, the L.A. County Arboretum in Arcadia has scheduled a cactus show and sale.

Gardening with broken concrete. On Saturday morning, the Arboretum is hosting a presentation on how to create paved areas in your garden by using recycled materials such as broken concrete, local stones, old bricks and stepping stones.

Gardening with others. Work on Transition Pasadena's Throop Learning Garden continues on Sunday. Work on the Arroyo Food Co-op's Free Food Garden, also a Transition Pasadena project, continues on Saturday morning.

Walking. On Saturday morning, the Eaton Canyon Nature Center hosts a family nature walk. Bring your small children, walking shoes, sunscreen, water and a hat.

Shopping. The Arroyo Food Co-op's pre-order program is up and running. If you order online by Sunday midnight you can pick up your items at the store on the following Tuesday or Saturday.

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Unless otherwise noted, all events take place in Pasadena. For times, addresses and other details please see the calendar page of Pasastainable, CA or the event owner's webpage.

A new phase for the Throop Learning Garden

First imagine the before: a strip of lawn, flat and water-guzzling, stretched out between the tall walls of a Gothic Revival style building, Throop Unitarian Universalist Church, and two busy streets, Del Mar Boulevard and Los Robles Avenue. Like so:

Before: a strip of grass in front of Throop Church

Then envision the after: a garden with low and tall growing plants, with native shrubs in various shades of silver and green, with hummingbirds and butterflies that settle on fruit trees, sunflowers and echinaceas.

After: sages, echinaceas...

...and a winding path invite visitors to linger and learn

The Throop Learning Garden was the work of a group of about 200 volunteers around Transition Pasadena, the Arroyo S.E.C.O. Network of Time Banks and the church — and the eco-transformers aren't done yet. Thanks to a successful online fundraising project in July, the sustainable permaculture garden will soon see the installment of a rainwater harvesting system.

The idea is to collect rainwater from the church roof via a series of gutters and to feed it into a large tank. The water will help supply the fruit trees and food beds in the garden with moisture. During the monthlong crowdfunding drive on Faithify supporters pledged $5.035 to help finance the project.

Transition Pasadena, which initiated the garden at Throop Church as a learning experience for the larger community, also organizes workshops and presentations. This Saturday, Lisa Novick of the Theodore Payne Foundation will share her knowledge around the topics of water conservation, habitat preservation and planting with native plants and edibles.

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When: Saturday, August 9, 3 p.m.

Where: Throop U.U. Church, 300 S Los Robles Ave

What: California Native Plants: The Big Picture (a presentation by Lisa Novick of the Theodore Payne Foundation)

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The "before" image of Throop Church was used with permission from Transition Pasadena.

Pasadena weekend: What to do July 25-27

Lots to do: Share and swap your backyard bounty, learn about sustainable fruit and vegetable gardens, and about GMOs.

Share Faire in the Park, hosted by RIPE Altadena. On Sunday afternoon, bring your backyard bounty to Farnsworth Park. Share your fruits, vegetables, seeds, backyard eggs and homemade preserves with others and take home something new.

Gardening 1. Self-tour The Huntington's Ranch, an urban agriculture site, on Saturday morning to pick up some inspiration for growing your own fruits and vegetables sustainably.

Gardening 2. Transition Pasadena's Throop Learning Garden meets on Sunday.

Walking 1. Arboretum walking tour. On Friday morning the Los Angeles County Arboretum is holding a docent-led adult walking tour. Be prepared to be on your feet for a while. Reservations are not required.

Walking 2. On Saturday morning, the Eaton Canyon Nature Center hosts a family nature walk. Bring your small children, walking shoes, sunscreen, water and a hat.

"Food For Thought." On Saturday morning, the Arroyo Food Co-op's speaker series, "Food for Thought," will feature a presentation on GMO labeling. The speaker, Jim Montgomery, is a Co-op member and an anti-GMO activist. Also, the Food Co-op's pre-order program is up and running. If you order online by Sunday midnight you can pick up your items at the store on the following Tuesday or Saturday.

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Unless otherwise noted, all events take place in Pasadena. For times, addresses and other details please see the calendar page of Pasastainable, CA or the event owner's webpage.

Pasadena weekend: What to do July 18-20

Walk through a garden, work in a garden.

Free Food Garden. The garden in front of the Arroyo Food Co-op store with its flowering, drought-tolerant plants and a winding path of broken concrete is looking better every week. But there is still work to do. Join Transition Pasadena workers on Sunday to help with gardening tasks or to bond with neighbors.

More gardens and gardening. On Friday morning, the Los Angeles County Arboretum is hosting a docent-led adult walking tour. It includes a substantial amount of walking. Reservations are not necessary. For Saturday morning, the Eaton Canyon Conservation Group has scheduled a work day. Community volunteer projects range from native planting and trail repair to weed abatement. Advance sign up is required! Transition Pasadena's Throop Learning Garden meets on Sunday.

The Arroyo Food Co-op's pre-order program is up and running. If you order online by Sunday midnight you can pick up your items at the store on the following Tuesday or Saturday.

Family Nature Walk. On Saturday morning, the Eaton Canyon Nature Center hosts a family nature walk. Bring small children, walking shoes, sunscreen, water and a hat.

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Unless otherwise noted, all events take place in Pasadena. For times, addresses and other details please see the calendar page of Pasastainable, CA or the event owner's webpage.

Free food garden: Digging for community

Drive by the site of the future store of the Arroyo Food Co-op on the corner of Wilson and Villa, and chances are you'll see people picking or digging away at the dirt on the parkway. What's going on?

The men and women are creating a free food garden. Designed by three local sustainability groups, the food co-op, Transition Pasadena and the Arroyo S.E.C.O. Network of Time Banks, the project is about community. The goal, as stated on the food co-op's website, is to transform an inactive space into a place where people can meet each other, work together, bring home food from the garden and enjoy improved health.

The Free Food Garden is a work in progress. Tasks have ranged from "sculpt the soil with a shovel" and "trim the bougainvillea" to "chat with passersby." The organizers hope that the effort will rub off and that free food gardens will crop up throughout the community.

A similar project, the Throop Learning Garden, already exists at Throop Memorial Church on the corner of Los Robles and Del Mar. There, time bankers and volunteers have transformed two bland looking, water guzzling strips of grass into gardens with drought tolerant plants, fruit trees, butterflies and humming birds.

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To join the free food garden project at 494 N. Wilson Avenue stop by on a Tuesday or Thursday morning or on a Saturday afternoon. For specific times see the calendar on this blog or the website of the food co-op.

Time bank members can earn time dollars to trade for other services. To sign up for an ASNT membership go to http://arroyoseco.timebanks.org. It's free.