Repair Cafe Pasadena returns to All Saints Church on July 18 from 11:00 am-2:00 pm.

Come on down and meet new friends and experience the gift economy!

Our repair people are professionals in other fields who love to tinker and sew and collect stories and share their skills as a gift to their community.

Step into this alternate economy and try it on for size. We think you will like what you find!

The Really, Really Free Market will be up and running! - bring something you no longer use and take something you may want...FREE!

To volunteer, send us a message!

Repair Cafe Pasadena - July 18, 11a-2p
All Saints Church - 2nd Floor, Learning Center
132 No Euclid Ave, Pasadena 91101

Recently about a dozen folks turned out at a potluck at the Arroyo Food Co-op. We didn't know each other well.  We went around the table sharing how we came to be there and what we were passionate about.  I said that planting fruit trees in public places is long overdue in Pasadena.

Pasadena needs a policy that fruit trees should be planted anywhere. The Pasadena Public Health Dept has named access to fresh fruits and vegetables, particularly in the food desert of the Northwest as a top priority.  This unprecedented drought means that our food security is increasingly threatened.

The City plans to plant approximately 900 trees this year.  If we will be spending precious water during this unprecedented drought on watering newly planted trees, should they not be food bearing?   Fruit trees, besides providing food for people, offer all the benefits of other trees such as carbon sequestration, shade for comfort, and reducing the urban heat island effect, soil and habitat benefits, and beauty. 

Three people at the table said they wanted to help.  Suddenly the small group of Transitioners working on this project had doubled!  The power of intention is a mighty power! If you would like to help with the outreach effort or would like more information, please contact Therese Brummel.

A Chinese proverb reminds us that “the best time to plant a fruit tree is ten years ago.  The second best time is now.”

— Therese Brummel

Mulch for the People is succeeding in bringing more mulch to the people!

We are proud that a discussion of mulch featured prominently at a recent Pasadena City Council meeting on June 1, 2015. Laura Garrett of the Environmental Advisory Commission talked about the problems with replacing turf with gravel, and promoted mulch and native plants, as well as water capture and reuse. Councilmember Victor Gordo asked, "Do we have a mulch program?" and said that his constituents wanted to know. Charles Peretz from Pasadena Public Works said that they were working to expand the mulch program because advocates called ‘Mulch for Pasadena’ (close enough) had been meeting with them.

The last time Pasadena City Council deliberated on the drought, last summer, there was no mention of mulch at all. So this change in Pasadenans’ awareness of the benefits of mulch is cause to celebrate!
 
Meeting with us on April 15, Charles Peretz of Pasadena Public Works said that a second mulch distribution location will be provided somewhere on the west side of Pasadena, where mulch chipped after trimming of city trees on parkways and parks will be delivered on a Monday once a month for residents to use, in addition to the current Friday distribution at Victory Park.  The city hopes to have the details worked out in the next couple of months.
 
We also recently met with Ursula Schmidt, the Water Conservation officer at Pasadena Water & Power, and Gabe Silva, the Zero Waste specialist with public works. We suggested the following ways their departments could help:

1. Provide city mulch deliveries to low-income residents;
2. Add a link to an online application that allows low-income families to have mulch delivered to their homes.
3. Provide hands-on turf-removal workshops at city properties, such as fire stations, when the city removes its turf; and
4. Add links to the MWD turf-removal website that shows how to use cardboard and mulch to remove turf, and to provide a schedule of workshops where people can learn how to remove their lawns by using cardboard and mulch.
   

All these recommendations were well received.

Mulch is very effective for replacing your lawn by smothering it. Laying down cardboard and topping it with a thick mulch will knock down most grasses. The cardboard blocks the sunlight and mulch keeps the cardboard from flying away and as the organic matter breaks down it becomes a slow release fertilizer for your new plants.

To get involved, follow  our Facebook Page, and contact your City Councilmember to support more of these programs to jumpstart water conservation.
 
Spread the word - Spread the mulch!

— Sylvia Holmes & Lin Griffith

Mulch For the People

Photo by Sylvia Holmes