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Photo Gallery: Repair Café at Villa Parke

6/6/2016

Repair Café Pasadena just posted a gallery of photos from last weekend's event.

Lots of locals brought bikes in for repairs. Coffee was donated by Charlie's in South Pasadena. 500 packets of seeds were packed and labeled by people awaiting repairs; the Zero Waste mason-jar conversion was very popular; and the Pop-Up museum on Gratitude was well engaged, including by City Councilmember John Kennedy!

– Therese Brummel

Highlights in slideshow above, but you'll definitely want to check out the whole gallery here!

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Free-Food Plants Have a New Home

6/5/2016

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Free-Food Garden

Originally envisioned by Sylvia Holmes and a small group of co-op and community members back in 2013, the Free-Food Garden became a flourishing hub of plants and public space. Native plants placed along the parking strip completely filled in the space, mounding beautifully and covered with flowers. The three fruit trees adjacent the co-op had grown taller than the gardeners who tended them, and many veggies and small fruit filled in around the trees, ready to be picked by neighbors and passers-by.

Alas, the lease on the building has run out, and the Arroyo Food Co-op is moving on. So what of the garden?

It’s spring, a time of renewal.

And so, Sylvia reached out to Lamar Anderson, the president of the garden leadership council at Villa Verde Rooftop Garden at Villa-Parke, and asked him to visit and survey the garden. He agreed to relocate the trees and plants to the park garden plots, and recruited volunteers for the challenging eight-block move.

There was a fond farewell gathering for Free-Food Garden fans to meet, express themselves with chalk drawings on the pavement, and exchange food from their home gardens, and share memories of the good times at the Garden.

Sylvia briefed the Villa Verde team on how to transplant the trees. They dug out the Pixie Mandarin and Fuyu Persimmon, wrapped each root ball in a tarp, and settled the trees into a pickup truck. Team member Alicia comforted the trees en route to the Villa Verde Rooftop plots, where again free food will be available just as it was at the Free-Food Garden. When Sylvia brought worm castings for the plants in their new beds, she said she felt like she was visiting a family member in the hospital or adjusting to her children’s leaving home.

As for the native plants, since it is not the right season to plant natives, Roger Klemm, founder of Sunland Welcome Nature Garden who originally provided the natives, will take cuttings and propagate a new generation for the Rooftop garden.

Kudos to Sylvia Holmes for imagining and creating a warm and welcoming place, the Free-Food Garden, to bring people together in Pasadena, and for making sure that the legacy of this garden continues on! Be sure to visit the plants after they have settled in at their new home at Villa-Parke!

— Lin Griffith & Qrys Cunningham

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Making Friends, while Banning ‘Foam

6/2/2016

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The Good TO-GO Campaign

Pasadena City Council unanimously approved a ban on polystyrene food containers on May 9, 2016!

Michiko Lynch is a new Transition Pasadena member and a Queen of Zero Waste in her own life. (She's down front in the photo.) She brings Mason jars to the butcher to put her meat in, and carries non-disposable silverware and food containers in her car. She also describes herself as a Tree-hugger-hugger, since her main squeeze, John Lynch, is an arborist.

Michiko inspired several Transition members and other Eco Activists in our community to launch the Good To-Go Campaign, part of ongoing efforts to ban Styrofoam containers. A group effort led to the creative name and logo, a vibrant social media campaign, stickers, petition signatures mounting to the hundreds, plus many personal letters to council and a formal letter signed by 20 local organizations, businesses, and faith groups.

We didn't accomplish this alone; we connected with many new and old friends along the way. And we owe thanks to all the volunteers and supporting citizens including: Styrofoam Free Pasadena, Day One, Arroyo Seco Foundation, Arroyos and Foothills Conservancy, Altadena Heritage, Arroyo Food Co-op, All Saints Church Sustainable World Ministry, Pasadena-Foothills Chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby, La Loma Development/The Shed, Neighborhood Church Green Council, Pasadena Audubon Society, Pasadena Group - Los Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club, Throop UU Church, Waste Less Living, Zanja Madre, Repair Café Pasadena, Throop Learning Garden, Mulch for the People, and Coloradoboulevard.net.

We also thank: Pasadena City Council, the Staff of the Department of Public Works, and the Environmental Advisory Commission.

We are determined to keep this momentum going!

We are building and strengthening relationships with our newly invigorated local Eco Activists Group.
We will remain vigilant. We will not allow the drafted ordinance veer off of a path to adoption.
We also support the citizens of other San Gabriel Valley and Foothills communities who want to ban polystyrene.
And we support a “Yes” vote this November to keep the statewide plastic bag ban.

As Michiko says, "I have found my people!"

— Therese Brummel

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Photo Gallery: Repair Café at Villa Parke

Free-Food Plants Have a New Home

Free-Food Garden

Making Friends, while Banning ‘Foam

The Good TO-GO Campaign

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