Pasastainable, CA: water

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Pasadena weekend: March 20-22

A busy weekend with happenings around water, climate change and native plants. Plus: ongoing and recurring events.

Water. On Saturday, the City of Sierra Madre and the Rotary Club are holding a World Water Day 2015 event. Expect an exposition with water experts, seminars, demonstration gardens, educational workshops and fun.

Climate change. Two organizations are holding climate change events this weekend: On Saturday, the Pasadena chapter of the League of Women Voters is hosting its annual Climate Change Forum; for Sunday, Transition Pasadena has organized a talk titled Carbon Free Prosperity.

Native plants. On Saturday and Sunday, the Theodore Payne Foundation will hold its annual native plant garden tour. Overall, 35 gardens in the Los Angeles area will be open, eight of them in or around Pasadena.

Gardening. On Friday morning the Hahamongna Nursery will host a work day for gardeners that includes planting and information about growing native plants. On Saturday morning, the Eaton Canyon Nature Center will host a Conservation Group work day. Volunteer projects including native planting, trail repair and weed abatement. Advance sign up required. Transition Pasadena's Throop Learning Garden will meet on Sunday morning.

Walks, docent-led. 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 next 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: March 13-15

Join a book discussion, educate yourself about the environment in general and about water in particular, honor Pi Day. Plus: a new interfaith coalition, ongoing and recurring events, and surveys.

Spring into Green! is the title of the Los Angeles Environmental Education Fair at the Arboretum (Arcadia.) The fair for children, families and educators will feature organizations such as Kidspace, Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots and TreeMap LA. There will also be music, community art stations, storytelling, live animals exhibits, workshops, food and family-friendly entertainment.

"A More Beautiful World." In preparation for Charles Eisenstein's local speaking engagement next week, Transition Pasadena will host an informal reading and community discussion of his book “A More Beautiful World" on Friday evening. (Eisenstein will not be at the reading circle.)

Water and You is the title of a four-part workshop series that the Neighborhood Church’s Green Council has organized. The fourth and last session, on Saturday afternoon, will explore the topic How to be an agent of change to support wise water use. Free and open to the public.

A new environmental coalition. Representatives from several faiths have formed the Arroyo Interfaith Environmental Coalition to help each other change practices, campuses and/or legislation to be more earth-friendly. The kick-off summit with speakers and panels will take place on Sunday afternoon.

3-14-15 is Pi Day. In honor of this event (in our lifetime uniquely, the date lines up as the first five digits of the irrational number π, 3.141592...) the Arroyo Food Co-op is hosting a Pie Contest on Saturday afternoon. The jury will award prizes for best sweet, best savory, prettiest and healthiest pie.

Gardening, workshops and hands-on. On Friday morning the Hahamongna Nursery will host a work day for gardeners that includes planting and information about growing native plants. On Saturday morning, the Arboretum (Arcadia) will host a workshop on organic fruit and vegetable gardening. On Saturday afternoon, there will be a Free-Food Garden work party at the Arroyo Food Co-op. Transition Pasadena's Throop Learning Garden will meet on Sunday morning.

Bird and other walks, docent-led. On Saturday morning the Arboretum (Arcadia) is holding its monthly bird walk. On Sunday morning there will be a bird walk at the Eaton Canyon Nature Center. 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.

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.

Petition, survey. Change.org's petition for a ban of styrofoam containers in Pasadena is still up and active. Pasadena Water and Power is conducting a survey on the city's energy future. (Note: PWP has not posted any information on when the survey period ends, but as of this printing the link was still up.)

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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: February 27 - March 1

Attend workshops on water and vegetable gardening, visit the Repair Cafe. Plus: ongoing and recurring events.

Need a repair? Repair Cafe is a monthly get-together of people with broken toasters, computers, necklaces, scissors, you-name-its and people who know how to fix things. Meets this Saturday morning and includes a clothing swap.

Water and You is the title of a four-part workshop series that the Neighborhood Church’s Green Council has organized. The third session, on Saturday afternoon, will explore the topic Personal Water Use. Free and open to the public.

Gardening, workshop. Want to grow vegetables in raised garden beds? On Saturday morning, the Arboretum (Arcadia) will host a workshop that will cover picking the right soil for a raised bed, manual and automatic irrigation techniques, garden planning, and seasonal growing tips.

Gardening, hands-on. On Saturday there will be a Free-Food Garden work party at the Arroyo Food Co-op. Transition Pasadena's Throop Learning Garden (usually) meets on Sunday mornings.

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.

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.

Walks, docent-led. Descanso Gardens (La Canada) is holding docent-guided seasonal walks on Saturday and Sunday morning. On Friday and Saturday morning, the Arboretum (Arcadia) will host docent-led walking tours.

Petition, survey. Change.org's petition for a ban of styrofoam containers in Pasadena is still up and active. Pasadena Water and Power is conducting a survey on the city's energy future. (Note: PWP has not posted any information on when the survey period ends, but as of this printing the link was still up.)

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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: February 13-15

Learn about a JPL project on global warming or about edible wild plants; help restore a trail; garden or walk. Plus: ongoing and recurring events.

No way back: Charting Irreversible Climate Change is the title of a JPL presentation on Friday night of the project Jason 3, which will serve as a set of eyes on sea level rise. By measuring global sea level once every 10 days, Jason 3 will chart out the global rise of the oceans, which is unlikely to subside or reverse for generations.

Trail restoration. Join the San Gabriels Trail Crew, an entity of the Sierra Club, on Saturday to help restore one of the historic trails damaged by the 2009 Station Fire and subsequent erosion.

Water and You is the title of a four-part workshop series that the Neighborhood Church’s Green Council has organized. The second session, on Saturday afternoon, will explore the topic California Water Supply. Free and open to the public.

Walks, docent-led. Descanso Gardens (La Canada) is holding docent-guided seasonal walks on Saturday and Sunday morning. On Friday and Saturday morning, the Arboretum (Arcadia) will host docent-led walking tours. On Sunday morning there will be a bird walk at the Eaton Canyon Nature Center.

Gardening, workshop. On Saturday morning, The Huntington (San Marino) will host a workshop with garden designer and food forager Nance Klehm exploring the role of edible wild plants in sustainable urban agriculture.

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

Petition, survey. Change.org's petition for a ban of styrofoam containers in Pasadena is still up and active. Pasadena Water and Power is conducting a survey on the city's energy future. (Note: PWP has not posted any information on when the survey period ends, but as of this printing the link was still up.)

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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: January 30 - February 1

Learn about water in nature and about safe bicycling, walk in the Arroyo. Plus: ongoing and recurring events.

Water and You is the title of a four-part workshop series that the Neighborhood Church’s Green Council has organized. The first session, on Saturday afternoon, will explore the topic Water in Nature. Meditation, discussion and action component included. Free and open to the public.

Traffic skills for cyclists. On Sunday Bike San Gabriel Valley will host an all-day class in El Monte: Traffic Skills 101. Aiming to instill cyclists with the confidence to ride safely and legally in traffic or on the trail, it will teach participants how to conduct bicycle safety checks, fix a flat, on-bike skills and crash avoidance techniques. RSVPs required. Attendees must be 18 or older.

Walking Pasadena will host a walk on Saturday afternoon to explore the trails in the Lower Arroyo Seco starting near the Rose Bowl and heading to South Pasadena. The route is about 5.5 miles round trip. Easy walking with lots of nature and urban views. Suitable for all.

More walks, docent-led. Descanso Gardens (La Canada) has docent-guided seasonal walks on its calendar for Saturday and Sunday morning. On Friday and Saturday morning, the Arboretum (Arcadia) will host docent-led walking tours.

Gardening, workshops. On Saturday morning, Descanso Gardens (La Canada) will host the last of three sessions in a workshop on organic gardening. On Sunday afternoon the Throop Learning Garden will host a workshop dedicated to the care of fruit trees.

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

One petition, two City surveys. Change.org's petition for a ban of styrofoam containers in Pasadena is still up and active. Pasadena Public Works is asking members of the community to weigh in on the future of trees in the city. The tree survey will end February 1. Pasadena Water and Power is conducting a survey on the city's energy future. (Note: PWP has not posted any information on when the survey period ends, but as of this printing the link was still up.)

The Arroyo Food Co-op will be open Saturday and Sunday. In fact, it is now open seven days a week: Store hours are Monday-Friday 4-7 p.m.; Sat and Sun 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Cycling. On Sunday morning Pasadena Cyclery will hold the Sunday Morning Neighborhood Stroll. For details see the calendar page of Pasastainable, CA.

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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: November 21-23

Share your produce and homemade items, watch a movie, explore the Arboretum. Plus: ongoing and recurring events and this week's random read.

Share Faire in the Park. RIPE Altadena is hosting its monthly Share Faire on Sunday. Bring your fresh produce, homemade items and delights that might accompany a Thanksgiving meal to Farnsworth Park and share your abundance.

Occupy the Farm. Beginning this Friday, November 21, the Laemmle Playhouse 7 will show Occupy the Farm. The documentary tells the story of a community in California's urban East Bay taking action: 200 farmers occupy a piece of farmland, plant 15,000 seedlings to feed the community and disrupt plans to build a shopping mall.

Walking tour. The Los Angeles County Arboretum is holding a one hour long, docent-led walking tour that will provide visitors with an introduction to the Arboretum.

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.

Exhibition, ending. Only ten days left to see the an exhibition at Descanso Gardens in La Canada. Titled Signs of Life, it aims to look at water "in all its moods and states." Ends November 30.

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

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.

Pasadena's watering schedule for the winter now applies. Pasadena Water and Power customers may water on one day a week only. It must be a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday.

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. In the Clear Fork Valley in East Tennessee a root digger named Carol Judy aka "The Forest Granny" tries to reconnect people in her community with the mountains they inhabit. Knowing precisely which plant will cure which ailment (jewelweed for nettle stings!) she roams the woods for sassafras, yellowroot and black cohosh, and shares her findings and expertise freely with the locals. Holly Haworth's profile of Judy, Place to Root, was published last month in The Southern Magazine of Good Writing. A warning to readers in California: A scene toward the end of this beautifully written story could cause rain envy.

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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: November 14-16

Visit a neighborhood festival, a reading fair at the Public Library and the Descanso Gardens. Get your broken stuff fixed at Repair Café. Learn about native plants and fish, and about rainwater collection. Plus: ongoing events and this week's random read.

Wonderful Water: A Neighborhood Festival. The Farmer’s Yard in NW Pasadena is hosting a water festival on Saturday. Expect lots of activities and sustainability presentations for young and old.

Repair Café returns. Tinkers and Tailors will be available on Saturday at All Saints Church to fix appliances, electronics, clothing, jewelry, dull knives, tools and toys. Free coffee.

130 Years of Reading is the title of a fair at the Pasadena Public Library. Family fun activities include a cake walk, a caricature artist, face painting.

Grand opening. On Saturday, Descanso Gardens is celebrating the opening of a new section called Oak Woodland. Expect lots of activities for children and adults including a viewing of a Mars Rover model, crafts and guided family walks.

Native Plants from Seeds. Advanced gardeners can learn how to propagate native plants from seeds in a class on Saturday at the Huntington.

A family nature walk in the Arroyo. On Sunday, native plant specialist Tim Martinez will lead families through a section of the Arroyo Seco where small, rare native fish, the Arroyo Chub, have been reintroduced into the watershed. He will teach participants to identify native plants that have been used by the indigenous population of California as food and medicine for thousands of years.

Rainwater collection. Will Gaskill will give a presentation on Sunday at the Neighborhood Church on rainwater collection systems.

Pasadena's watering schedule for the winter now applies. Pasadena Water and Power customers may water on one day a week only. It must be a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday.

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 morning.

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.

Exhibition 1. 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.

Exhibition 2. An exhibition at Descanso Gardens in La Canada titled Signs of Life aims to look at water "in all its moods and states." Ends November 30.

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.

Random read. Every once in a while the artist Sarah Lazarovic goes on a year-long no-shopping diet to create a dam against "the endless stream of stuff that both dazzles and disgusts." In 2012, she decided to paint all the items she was longing for but didn't buy. She put the two-tone shoes, striped sweaters, and dresses in shades of Rothko on paper and added hand-written text. Beautiful, thought-provoking and timeless, her visual essay, A Bunch of Pretty Things I Did Not Buy, leaves readers with some useful advice: "A scarf can change so much." (Lazarovic' book with the same title as the essay was just published by Penguin Books.)

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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 peek through the fence: Water festival in Northwest Pasadena on Saturday

A peek through the fence reveals a series of raised vegetable beds in fall mode, empty except for the occasional pepper hanging on to what is left of summer. What the glimpse doesn't disclose — at least not on a weekday afternoon in November — is that this plot of land has become synonymous with community building. Situated on an intersection in Northwest Pasadena once dubbed Blood Corner, the garden draws neighbors and volunteers from all parts of town together for yard work and weekend events.

"Creating a safe and peaceful space": The Farmer's Yard

The idea for a community garden at the corner of Howard and Navarro goes back to 2011, when a ministry across the street, the Harambee Christian Family Center, began leasing the land from the City. The project took off earlier this year after the Northwest Pasadena Community Garden Coalition promised to turn the space into an edible garden that would improve the health and well-being of the residents in the 12 blocks surrounding it and serve as a hub for children to explore nature. The Farmer's Yard, as the community garden is now called, was born.

According to its website, The Farmer's Yard operates "in the spirit of self-reliance and sustainable models" and without monetary support from any agency or institution. It hosts a weekly art and science program for neighborhood children, has organized a Butterfly Fair and a Wiggly Worm Fair and offered two earthquake safety workshops. Lydia Breen, one of the driving forces behind The Farmer's Yard, recently said about the project: "I believe we are unusual in that we are more than a community garden. We are neighbors, collaborating within a hyperlocal area to create a safe and peaceful space that will serve as a model for sustainability and resilience in the face of economic, societal and environmental pressures."

From "Blood Corner" to community building: Announcing the neighborhood festival

On Saturday, The Farmer's Yard is cosponsoring a neighborhood festival, Wonderful Water (together with The Trailer Trash Project.) Children’s activities range from making a worm tunnel and seeing river creatures under a microscope to a spoken word workshop with the Kenyan poet Minda Magero. Happenings for everyone include presentations on the L.A. River, on edible California native plants and on water reclamation for gardens.

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What: Wonderful Water, A Neighborhood Festival (free)
When: Saturday, November 15, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Where: 138 W Howard St

Mulling mulch: Community discussion on Wednesday

Earlier this year, Sylvia Holmes was shlepping ground-cover for the Free-Food Garden in front of the Arroyo Food Co-op when her back went out. A certified permaculture designer and an activist for the transition movement, the Pasadena resident immediately began mulling all things mulch.

Her musings went something like this:

The need for mulch, which serves as a water-saving heat barrier in people's gardens, is greater than ever because of the drought.
Tree trimming companies produce mulch by the truckload and pay steep fees to dump it.
The City lets residents have its tree trimmings for free but doesn't deliver.
Many residents are still buying mulch from companies and writing checks to have it delivered — or they hurt themselves doing their own hauling.

"Something was wrong with the picture," Holmes said recently, "and it just hit me that I needed to do something about it."

The mastermind and driving force behind the Free-Food Garden as well as a mother of three, Holmes did not really need another job. But together with Transition Pasadena she created a new project, Mulch for the People.

On Wednesday evening the initiative will kick off with a community discussion titled State of the Mulch. The event will bring all those together who hold a stake in the matter. Gabriel Silva of Pasadena Public Works, Wendy DeLeon of Pasadena Water and Power and Marco Barrantes of La Loma Development will speak, and Blair Miller as the moderator will invite the public to contribute ideas and concerns. The goal of the forum? To create a program that will make mulch more freely available.

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What: State of the Mulch, a community discussion
When: Wednesday, October 8, 7-8:30 p.m.
Where: Wright Auditorium, Pasadena Central Library, 285 East Walnut Street

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.

Water warnings: You lose or you lose!

What should we make of this?

Earlier this week, California residents learned that they would face fines up to $500 if they waste water by overwatering their lawns, hosing down their driveways and similar actions.

Pasadena Star News, page 1, July 16, 2014

Today, local residents read about a water-wise couple in Glendora, that faces a $500 fine for letting its lawn go dormant. The woman, Laura Whitney-Korte, received a letter from the City of Glendora stating that the brown patch could be a "potential public nuisance problem" and that "limited watering is still required to keep landscaping looking healthy and green."

Whitney-Korte told the Pasadena Star News: "[The letter] is telling me I'd better get my lawn green and I have 60 days to do it."

Pasadena Star News, page 1, July 17, 2014

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