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 - 
info@repair-cafe-pasadena.org

Repair Cafe is a project of Transition Pasadena. Co-sponsorship by Neighborhood Connections.

Repair Café Pasadena 

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:  throoplearninggarden@gmail.com

— January Nordman

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

Photo by Sylvia Holmes.

We are getting information out on statewide plastic bag ban initiatives on the ballot Nov 8.
We urge everyone to vote to keep the ban in place:
        NO   on  Prop 65
        YES  on  Prop 67

For more info check out:
 https://www.surfrider.org/priority-campaigns/say-yes-to-ca-plastic-bag-ban
http://www.cayeson67.com/get-the-facts
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article105050231.html

— January Nordman

Good To-Go Campaign

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

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 


Photo by January Nordman.