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Native
Landscape Barnraising!
Jackie
Robinson Post Office
When:
Saturday, October 22 —
8:00 am to 4:00 pm
Where:
1355 No. Mentor St.,
Pasadena 91104
- Volunteers Needed!
-
The Jackie Robinson Post
Office Native Landscape
one-day Barnraising will
be October 22, 8am-4pm.
The 2000 sq ft of
mostly south-facing beds
surrounded by cement,
asphalt and brick is
ideally suited to native
trees, shrubs and
groundcovering plants.
Transition Pasadena
coordinates and hosts
the landscape project in
collaboration with USPS
and several City
departments. The City of
Pasadena Water
Conservation Program has
designed and contributed
an efficient irrigation
system with a smart
controller. This system
will be installed by the
Pasadena Maintenance
Assistance to Homeowners
(MASH) program. The
City's Forestry Dept
will deliver 15 cubic
yards of mulch to the
site. Pasadena Public
Health Department's
Nutrition and Physical
Activity Program will
lend gloves, tools,
buckets and provide
healthful snacks.
Councilmember McAustin
will also contribute
healthful snacks
The Hahamongna
Cooperative Nursery has
collaborated with
Theodore Payne
Foundation to design a
gorgeous garden and
source the plants. And
about 40 enthusiastic
neighbors sourced
through a neighborhood
social network,
Nextdoor.com, will
provide the labor and
ongoing maintenance for
one year.
Local networking? Yes!
Placemaking? Yes!
Support for water
conservation, local
pollinators, public
awareness-raising on
climate, drought and
species extinction? Yes,
yes, yes!
Lisa Novick of Theodore
Payne Foundation
inspired this project
and has led the design
process with her passion
for native plants. She
gave the directive "It
has to be drop-dead
gorgeous!" The final
garden design considers
year-round color,
blooms, berries, leaf
color and texture and
even leaf litter. It
incorporates plants that
are host or food for a
variety of butterflies,
bees and birds. It
softens the boxy post
office architecture with
variety of height and
patterns and keeps low
maintenance and water
conservation as
priorities. It will
indeed be gorgeous and
hopefully inspiring to
passersby! Neighbors
will learn that it is
easy and fun to create
native landscapes. The
increasing importance of
drought-scaping raises
the parallel need to
support our local
species at all levels,
soil, plants, insects,
birds, and up the animal
kingdom. Two zones of
water will cover two
plant communities, one
local natives which
require low water and
one with plants even
more tolerant of drought
and sun which will
require even less
water. One planter that
has no irrigation will
have plants that thrive
with next to no water at
all. No cacti or
succulents will be
featured in this plan.
Our current wish list
includes:
- Arroyo rocks to
punctuate the garden
as reminders of
Pasadena's treasured
wilderness area ,
the Arroyo Seco.
They must be too big
to throw, or roughly
bigger than a
basketball.
- A videographer to
document Barnraising
day and create a 5
minute video.
- A person with
graphic design
skills to help
create a display at
the Santa Catalina
Library. It will
explain more about
the garden and its
plants.
To get involved with
digging, mulching or
support on 10/22
RSVP [email protected]
Why Plant
Native Plants?
In short, the answer is
that our ecosystems are
suffering from Climate
Change, specifically
from extreme heat and
drought in California.
National Park Service
offers this answer.
"Native plant species
provide the keystone
elements for ecosystem
restoration. Native
plants help to increase
the local population of
native plant species,
providing numerous
benefits. There are
specific associations of
mycorrhizae with plants,
invertebrates with woody
debris, pollinators with
flowers, and birds with
structural habitat that
can only be rebuilt by
planting native plants.
Advantages of native
plants:
- add beauty to the
landscape and
preserve our natural
heritage
- provide food and
habitat for native
wildlife
- decrease the
amount of water
needed for landscape
maintenance
- require very
little long-term
maintenance if they
are properly planted
and established
- produce long root
systems to hold soil
in place
- protect water
quality by
controlling soil
erosion and
moderating floods
and droughts
- serve as an
important genetic
resource for future
food crops or other
plant-derived
products
- help slow down the
spread of fire by
staying greener
longer"
www.NPS.gov/plants
— Therese Brummel
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Olive
Harvest
At Throop
Learning Garden
What a bounty our olive
tree provides!
Our abundant olive crop
began ripening in mid
September, a full month
from our projected
harvest time. We were
looking to set up
workshop dates for late
October, but quickly
realized the crop would
be diminished by then.
So we got busy and
started harvesting.
The harvest looked like
an immense undertaking.
Our olive tree bent with
fruit. We began midweek
with just two of us
hand-picking. We picked
about ½ gallon.
We continued on Sunday
9/18, with a Meet-Up
contingent that included
Claudia, who taught us
how her Portuguese
grandmother harvested
olives by tapping the
laden branches with
poles, and collecting
the olives as they fell
onto sheets or tarps. We
organized ourselves into
harvesters and sorters
(for green, black, and
bicolored olives). Later
we washed and destemmed
the olives, then abraded
their skins as we
prepped them for curing.
Wafic offered us a
detailed demonstration
of how to dry salt cure
olives, as his father
taught him in Lebanon.
We spooned a ½ gallon of
olives on a wide,
plastic lined tray. The
olives were generously
covered with sea salt,
and tossed, so that all
sides of the fruit were
covered with salt. Then
they were left in the
sun to cure. The salt
leaches the bitterness
from the olives over the
course of several days
to weeks, depending on
the size of the olive.
Everyone took home
olives to try their
hands at curing or
brining them.
Our olive harvest
continued Sunday 9/25
with a small crew. We
will continue to harvest
over the next few weeks.
Come join us Sundays
from 8:30-10:30am at
Throop Learning Garden.
Here are some olive
preservation resources:
General Olive
Preserving
http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8267.pdf
Dry,Salt Curing
Olives
http://www.markdymiotis.com/food/processing-olives/
Wafic’s Dry Salt
Cure Olive Recipe
It's a simple process
but takes time. Here's
what we need:
- Clean glass
bottles to crush the
olives
- Salt
- Rack, cookie
sheet, or bowl
- We crush the
olives. Soak them in
hot water.
- Once the water
cools off, we take
them out sprinkle
liberally with salt.
- We place them in
the sun on a sheet
(or bowl) with
plastic wrap
underneath.
- Stir every day for
3-4 days.
— January Nordman
Throop
Learning Garden
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Beautiful
Swales
Urban
Acupuncture to Cure
Drought
Beautiful Swales is a
Transition Pasadena
initiative to popularize
and facilitate the
contouring of
residential land. Why?
To capture rainwater and
percolate it to
groundwater so that it
is not allowed to run
off into the street to
storm drains and the
ocean.
Sylvia and I are the
dirt diggers pushing
this idea, and we have
happily discovered that
Melanie Winter of Water
LA has already figured
out how to build
coalitions to get the
word out and to organize
neighborhoods for
workshop trainings and
mutual,
community-building
effort. Removing a
2-foot section of curb
ushers gutter water into
a trench in the parking
strip studded with river
stones to keep the dirt
sides of this “swale”
from falling in. A tree
at the bottom gets
occasional deep watering
during storms; native
plants add beauty. Or,
if you are not a
do-it-yourselfer,
Melanie will train
installers in a green
jobs program.
60% of the urban area is
residential properties,
so the amount of water
conserved will be
considerable, and a
better plan than just
using less of the water
imported from Northern
California. If each
household creates a
parking strip swale,
this “Urban Acupuncture”
will reduce the amount
of water reaching storm
drains. LA County now
requires each city to
clean water that reaches
their drains, so
Pasadena will save time
and money by working
with Water LA to reduce
runoff.
Beautiful Swales has
told Pasadena Planning
and Water and Power
Departments about the
work of Water
LA and invited
their staff to hear Melanie
Winter describe
her program in detail at
the Environmental
Advisory Commission
meeting at 6:00 pm
October 11 at the Permit
Center, 175 N. Garfield
Ave. Please come to
learn how you can make a
swale in your parking
strip and to show the
Commission that
Pasadenans support
conserving rainwater, a
precious resource. And
visit https://www.facebook.com/Beautiful-Swales-999988803354733
to see more photos that
show why we call them
beautiful swales.
— Lin Griffith
www.fb.com/Beautiful-Swales-999988803354733
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Repair
Cafe comes to East
Pasadena
A Real
Example of the Sharing
Economy
Saturday, October 29
— 10:30 am to 1:30 pm
Boys and Girls Club
3230 E. Del Mar Blvd.,
Pasadena
Bring your broken things
and get them fixed for
FREE at Repair
Cafe Pasadena,
which is coming to the
Boys and Girls Club,
Pasadena. Appliances,
clothing, electronics,
dull tools and
knives--Repair Cafe
volunteers will try
their best to fix them
all.
Why not learn to repair
your own stuff with
skilled volunteers?
Tools are available for
fixing, or just watch
and learn. Join the fun.
Bring something, take
something at the Really
Really Free Market where
everything is 100% off!
For this Halloween,
assemble a totally new
costume outfit without
spending a dime. If you
have a lightly used
costume, bring it to
exchange for a new one,
or get the old one
fixed.
Also seed giveaway and
garden advice.
When something breaks,
keep it out of the
landfill and save money
on a replacement by
bringing it to Repair
Café. Come on out
and see your neighbors:
everyone is welcome. It
helps if attendees
indicate that they plan
to attend. Visit https://www.facebook.com/events/1769908206630868/
for more information and
to respond.
The volunteers enjoy
doing good while
spending time together;
a warm community has
developed. You can
volunteer even if it is
your first visit to
Repair Cafe. Indicate
your talents here: https://goo.gl/forms/MqLYVMJzvGM8wlJj1
— Ginko Lee
Contact: Ginko Lee -
(626) 788-2737 -
[email protected]
Repair Cafe is a project
of Transition Pasadena.
Co-sponsorship by
Neighborhood Connections.
Repair
Café Pasadena
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Throop
Learning Garden
Kombucha
Brewing Workshop
with Cynthia
Crosswhite
Saturday,
November 5
– 9:30
am to 11:00 am
$10 donation requested
for materials.
Cynthia will discuss the
science of scobies,
brewing, and, materials
needed to brew
successfully. She will
demonstrate simple
techniques and recipes
for brewing, flavoring,
and serving kombucha.
Class size is limited.
$10 donation requested
for materials.
For more information and
to reserve a space in
the workshop email: [email protected]
— January Nordman
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Walk and
Talk in District 1
Strong connection to
neighbors makes a
resilient community
For this reason a number
of neighbors in
Pasadena’s District 1
organized a “Walk and
Talk” to highlight three
neighbors’ homes that
are embracing
sustainability and
community spirit. The
area they covered is
bounded by Woodbury,
Garfield, Elizabeth, and
Montana in NM Pasadena.
A group of about 30
people assembled at the
corner of Elizabeth and
Garfield at 6pm on 9/17.
Among those present were
Pasadena City manager,
Mr. Steve Mermell;
Pasadena NW Manager, Ms.
Lola Osborne; District 1
Councilman Tyrone
Hampton’s Field
Representative, Ms.
Cushon Bell; as well as
neighbors and
presenters.
The first home visited
belonged to a couple who
have transformed their
bungalow by adding
passive solar, active
solar panels, energy
efficient appliances and
lighting, water
harvesting and
reclamation(grey water),
an ample vegetable
garden, and public
access in the front yard
with an inviting bench
and free library.
The second home belonged
to an artist and his
family. They have
transformed their front
yard to native drought
tolerant plants with
swales. Their focus
centered on how to
redesign your yard.
The third home belonged
to a family that redid
their yard to
incorporate art, lush
plants, and have a low
water profile. They
used yucca as dramatic
accents. This family
revolves around art.
They, too, have
instituted welcoming
seating to invite their
neighbors in, and
surrounded it with
original art.
Many thanks to Jill,
Anthony, Eric, and
Robert, and their
families for sharing
their homes with us.
We ended the walk with
an opportunity for
coffee and conversation
at 6:45 at Sidewalk Café
in the historic Hen’s
Teeth Plaza. Pasadena
Water and Power was on
hand with information
and a short presentation
on Pasadena’s “Laundry
to Landscape” rebate
offer. Rolan Solayan and
John Hoffner answered
questions. Conversation
ensued. The neighbors
were interested in the
program, and discussed
ways to help each other
install grey water
systems.
Neighbors networked and
came up with great ideas
for the neighborhood.
Jessica pitched the idea
of organizing a
gardening circle, that
would be based on
neighbors helping
neighbors to install and
maintain food gardens.
Ed, a neighbor who
serves on Pasadena’s
Environmental Advisory
Commission, urged
everyone to attend a
commission meeting.
Meetings are the 2nd
Tuesday of every month
at 6pm in the
- Permit
Center Hearing Room
- 175 N.
Garfield
- Pasadena
91101
He reminded his
neighbors that each
voice can make a huge
difference.
This type of sharing and
interaction builds
strong relationships.
Strong relationships are
the backbone of
resilient communities.
— January Nordman
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![[image not displayed]](http://www.transitionpasadena.org/uploads/2/0/0/0/20003591/375904_orig.png)
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