What's Growing 2019?
We're thrilled to be getting our Resilient Neighborhoods program underway in Vallejo with educational installations starting at the end of this month.
Our first pilot Resilient Neighborhoods team has been selected and the design process is underway. We will be working with a team of four homeowners to begin transforming their street into an environmentally and socially resilient community hub. Using landscaping elements of our Sustainable Backyard program as a foundation, this new program will build in additional resiliency elements. The design will treat the homes as part of the same ecosystem, linking them together through shared services and planned diversity, like providing shade in communal areas and producing a varied supply of food. Over time, we plan to work with this established team to bring additional neighbors and community organizations into the hub as part of a larger movement to transform our cities into more regenerative, equitable and resilient places to live. This pilot is an opportunity for us to expand our demonstration gardens not only in scale, but in scope.
We hope you'll join us Saturdays May 25 though June 22 to build new skills and make this program a success! Learn more here.
Additionally, we would also like to introduce our newest team member:
Big Welcome to Our New Business Manager!
 We are excited to introduce Linda Damarel! Linda is joining Sustainable Solano as the new business manager. She began her career in nonprofit finance and accounting in the mid-1990s and has contributed to numerous social and environmental organizations, helping them improve the management of their finances to benefit programs and expand outreach.
She received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, majoring in Finance, at Roosevelt University in Chicago and later earned her Master of Business Administration from John F. Kennedy University in Pleasant Hill.
A longtime resident of Concord, Linda has three wonderful adult children and has been deeply involved in her community throughout the years. She enjoys volunteering for organizations that promote sustainability and provide assistance to those in need. Linda is a gardening enthusiast and likes to grow and cook her own organic food as well as ferment her own vegetables. She is excited to join the Sustainable Solano team to help promote initiatives that make a positive difference for the environment and the entire community.
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Upcoming Events
Thursday, May 2
6-8 pm, Green Hive Spaces, 425 Virginia Ave., Vallejo
Join us for the last talk of the Next Economy Series! At this talk, we will discuss the design principles and strategies needed for vocational and regenerative enterprise design. We’ll discuss how we could redesign the economy for security, prosperity and a stable climate with transformation based on permaculture design principles, methods and ethics for an economy that benefits all life. Register here.
Saturday, May 4
10 am-4 pm, Register for Location, Fairfield
Join us for the installation of a vegetable garden at an apartment complex! This project will serve as a source of fresh produce, a hub of information and a place for building relationships. Join us as we learn about sustainable landscaping practices and the principles of urban agriculture through the installation of this edible garden. This could be a great opportunity to learn ways that you can support the installation of a vegetable garden in an apartment complex! We hope to see you there! Register here.
Saturday, May 4
10-11 am, Suisun Wildlife Center, 1171 Kellogg St., Suisun City
As we try to attract beneficial insects to our gardens, we also keep an eye out for those that may harm our plants, but how to manage the garden without damaging the ecosystem? Join local Master Gardeners for this presentation on beneficial insects and how to attract them while managing pest insects without pesticides and chemicals. Register here.
Saturday, May 4
10 am-1 pm, Suisun Wildlife Center, 1171 Kellogg St., Suisun City
10-11 am: Check in and pick up a map of participating gardens at Suisun Wildlife Center, 1171 Kellogg St., Suisun City
10-11 am: Master Gardeners will give a talk about beneficial inserts in the garden and how to attract them
10 am-1 pm: Self-directed tour of gardens in Fairfield and Suisun City
Join us for this annual tour of four demonstration food forest gardens in Suisun and Fairfield. Pick up an itinerary from 10-11 am at Suisun Wildlife Center (home to a demonstration pollinator garden) for a self-guided tour through these lush private gardens. You'll have an opportunity to see how these gardens have put rainwater and secondary water, such as laundry-to-landscape greywater systems, to use to support abundant food-producing ecosystems. Ask our food forest keepers questions, enjoy the gardens, be inspired and get ideas on how you can work these design principles into your own yard! Register here.
Tuesday, May 7
6-7 pm, Rio Vista Library, 44 South Second St., Rio Vista
Sustainable landscape designer Lauren Bennett will teach about sustainable landscaping: beautiful, productive, life supporting ecosystems featuring trees and a variety of perennials fed by secondary water (greywater and rainwater). Learn about current turf replacement rebates too! Register here.
Saturday, May 18
9 am-12 pm, Corner of First and D streets, Benicia
Join us for a garden work day in Avant Garden! The day begins at 9 am and will conclude at around noon. It is not required that you have a box at the garden, everyone is welcomed and encouraged to participate. If you have a garden bed, this is the perfect opportunity to contribute volunteer hours. For those who don’t have a garden bed, it’s a good chance to see how it all works and sign up for a garden bed! Activities will include weeding and prepping garden beds, among other activities. Make sure to bring water, gloves if you have them and closed-toe shoes. We hope to see you there!
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Saturday, May 18
10 am-4 pm, Register for Location, Fairfield
This is the first installation workshop for the “Magical Garden” demonstration food forest garden in Fairfield. We will be laying down the foundation of this edible garden: digging contour swales, making berms, diverting roof water and planting trees. Break ground with friends and neighbors and learn how to use water wisely while creating an environment where life-supporting plants thrive. A healthy lunch will be provided by the homeowner. Please bring hats, gloves, reusable water bottle and sunblock. Register here.
Saturday, May 25
10 am-4 pm, Register for Location, Fairfield
This is the second public, hands-on installation workshop at “Magical Garden” demonstration food forest garden. On this day, we'll learn how to put in plants that work together, mulch and install a surface drip irrigation system.
Join us at the end of the day for a special celebration to recognize landscape designer Kathleen Huffman. This will be Kathleen’s last garden installation with Sustainable Solano, wrapping up four years of leading our sustainable landscaping installations and helping to build our local community. She will take her skills and expertise to Oklahoma, where she is moving later this summer. Register here.
Saturday, May 25
Join us this month as we get our first Vallejo Resilient Neighborhoods projects underway! We will be working with a team of four homeowners to begin transforming their street into an environmentally and socially resilient community hub. Learn more here. Check out our calendar for more details on what will happen at each weekend workshop.
Saturday, May 25
2-3 pm, Shelter Solano, 310 Beck Ave., Fairfield
Leave It Better Than You Found It! That is the goal of every permaculture designer, especially when interacting with the environment. How can we begin to develop regenerative systems that will repair our damaged ecosystems? This month we’ll discuss a brief history of permaculture and natural farming. Then we’ll learn how its principles and design methods can be used to restore even the most devastated landscapes, including transforming a desert into an oasis! Register here.
Where to Find Us This Month:
"You can't change the world alone — you will need some help — and to truly get from your starting point to your destination takes friends, colleagues, the good will of strangers and a strong coxswain to guide them"
- William H. McRaven
May 7, Oakland, CA
This invitation-based gathering brings together representatives from Bay Area sustainability organizations to discuss programs, policy, tools and strategies.
May 22, Concord, CA
The Sustainable Enterprise Conference is Contra Costa’s annual gathering of business owners, entrepreneurs, civic leaders, educators and activists who are dedicated to the principles of sustainability and One Planet Living. Speakers and panelists address critical issues, showcase successful business models and present opportunities for creating a vibrant and truly sustainable economy.
May 30-31, Los Angeles, CA
The California ReLeaf mission is to empower grassroots efforts and build strategic partnerships that preserve, protect and enhance California's urban and community forests.
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Blogs
Sustainable Solano will launch a new program in Benicia that will bring sustainable landscaping training and skills to local landscape professionals and high school students while also helping Benicia residents turn their lawns into sustainable, waterwise food forest gardens in the coming years. Significant funding provided for the Community Land & Water Caretaker Program is the result of three-party negotiations initiated by the Good Neighbor Steering Committee with Valero and the City of Benicia. One of the most exciting aspects of the Community Land & Water Caretaker Program is how it will incorporate education with conservation, helping to teach the next generation of leaders and landscape professionals through a hands-on education and certification program — a training room without walls. [Read more...]
Communities have the power to shape a new economy that is equitable and just, and the transition to get there lies in creating self-determination and shared prosperity through community governance and community ownership. It also relies on moving from a mindset of scarcity to one of creating abundance. At our recent Next Economy discussion, we explored these key elements and how they can be used, particularly within communities of color that have been disempowered and disenfranchised in the current economic system, to create a new way of approaching the economy that often draws upon traditions of supporting one another. [Read more...]
By: Stephanie Oelsligle Jordan, Local Food Program Manager
Hey local food fans! We are excited to announce that Eatwell Farm in Dixon is planning to distribute their CSA boxes in Benicia! Eatwell grows all organic vegetables and fruit, and also offers essential oils, flavored salts and pasture-raised chicken eggs. Eatwell has been supplying the Bay Area with their wonderful farm-fresh products for over 20 years, and they are now the first Solano County-based farm distributing in Benicia. Not familiar with CSAs? CSA stands for community-supported agriculture and is a vital part of building a local food system. Participants commit to buying regular boxes of seasonal produce and other farm products directly from local farmers. This gives subscribers the freshest local, healthy produce, while also supporting a local food system. [Read more...]
By: Sustainable Solano
We’ve been doing a lot of thinking on the need to move to an economy that is informed by the indigenous ways of caring for both our local communities and our environment. So imagine our delight when we read a discussion between local economy advocates Helena Norberg-Hodge and Wendell Berry that ranges across human nature, technology, experiential knowledge, agriculture policy, happiness, wildness and local food systems. Helena Norberg-Hodge is the founder and director of Local Futures, which works to renew ecological, social and spiritual well-being by promoting a systemic shift toward economic localization through decentralized, regional economies. Wendell Berry, poet, author and activist, is known for his advocacy for ecology, rural life and small-scale farming. [Read more...]
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June Preview
Join Chef Lisa Núñez-Hancock as she explores and rolls an exciting array of delicious wraps filled with a myriad of healthy and nutritious ingredients just in time for the lazy days of summer. Learn the ins and outs of creating classic California burritos, the techniques of making lavash pinwheels (a colorful and easy appetizer that makes entertaining a breeze), and join in on a lively discussion of the famous San Francisco Mission District Burritos and the best spring rolls in Vallejo. As always, our workshops are free to the public and there will be yummy samples, recipe booklets and surprises.
Join us in June as continue our educational workshops for our first Vallejo Resilient Neighborhoods project! We will be working with a team of four homeowners to begin transforming their street into an environmentally and socially resilient community hub. Learn more here. Check out our calendar for more details on what will happen at each weekend workshop.
As we try to attract beneficial insects to our gardens, we also keep an eye out for those that may harm our plants, but how to manage the garden without damaging the ecosystem? Join Peter Swenson for this presentation on beneficial insects and how to attract them while managing pest insects without pesticides and chemicals. Bring your questions about pest challenges in your yard, and Peter will provide organic solutions! Register here.
Catching and storing energy is one of permaculture’s most vital principles. It allows us to operate in the same manner that nature does, making the most of resources when they are available. This month we’ll learn how to capture tens of thousands of gallons a year from our roofs by building and using an A-Frame, which is a leveling device used to find and draw contour lines. Then we’ll examine the 100-foot swale snaking through our demonstration food forest garden and discuss how it can retain over 1,500 gallons of water at once! Register here.
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Partners and Community Member Events
May 3, 5-7 pm, Mare Island Brewing Co, 289 Mare Island Way, Vallejo
Join owners and other locals to mix and mingle and learn more about Cultivate Community Food Co-op. Ferry riders, have your loved ones meet you for a drink after your commute.
May 4, 9 am-2 pm, Heritage Presbyterian Church, 1400 East Second St., Benicia
Come find native perennials, shrubs, groundcovers and trees for a drought-tolerant, wildlife-friendly and attractive garden. Many of the plants growing at the chapter’s native plant nursery in Vallejo (the source of the plants for this sale) are achieving the peak growth rates and are ready for a permanent home. Check out the inventory of plants posted on the chapter website to see if your favorite plant will be available. Or maybe you’ll find a plant on the inventory that is new to you and would be a welcome addition to your garden.
May 4, 9 am-1 pm, Solano Land Trust, King-Swett Open Space, Vallejo
Come explore the hills between Fairfield, Benicia and Vallejo. Solano Land Trust docents will guide you through this area, known as the King-Swett Ranches. They’ll share insights about the birds and other wildlife that call this area home, and give you a great workout! Take advantage of this special opportunity if you can because the King-Swett Ranches are otherwise closed. You will meet the docent at the Park and Ride and then carpool to the trailhead from there. Registration, which is requested but not required, opens approximately one month prior to the hike. Double check the date of the hike on the registration link.
May 6, 10-11 am, The Barn & Pantry, 125 West A St., Dixon
The Barn & Pantry has an abundance of organic asparagus right now, fresh in from Durst Organics in Esparto. Come learn the difference between and how to prepare pickled and fermented asparagus, then make your own to take home with you! Perfect pairing for bloody marys, charcuterie boards or just snacking! For this and other fun Pantry-hosted classes, click here.
Drought-Tolerant Native Plants for Solano Workshop
May 6, 6:30 pm, Benicia Library, 150 East L St., Benicia
Save time and money by planting water-wise plants. Learn how from Solano County Master Gardeners in this workshop.
May 13, 6:30 pm, Benicia Library, 150 East L St., Benicia
Pollinators, including bees, butterflies and hummingbirds, all are important for our survival. Many crops are dependent on pollination and so is one-third of our food supply. How can we garden to create habitat and enjoy a sustainable, colorful landscape in our own backyard? Join Solano County Master Gardeners for a fascinating, fun and inspirational talk on pollinators just in time for spring!
May 22, 9 am-4:30 pm, Cal State East Bay's Concord Campus, 4700 Ygnacio Rd., Concord
The Sustainable Enterprise Conference is Contra Costa’s annual gathering of business owners, entrepreneurs, civic leaders, educators and activists who are dedicated to the principles of sustainability and One Planet Living. Speakers and panelists address critical issues, showcase successful business models and present opportunities for creating a vibrant and truly sustainable economy. Learn more and register here.
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Community Conversations
Sustainable Solano's Conversations Initiative is expanding countywide to bring you inspirational, engaging and meaningful talks on sustainability topics you care about. These topics include global sustainability, our local economy, sustainable landscaping, waste, etc. What speakers would you like to hear speak on these topics? Any relevant films that you feel we should show? To share requests, thoughts and ideas please email:
stephanie@sustainablesolano.org. Visit our calendar for upcoming speaker events in your area.
Sustainable Solano's website has information about our exciting programs, upcoming events, and other community news.
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Want to engage? Be creative?
If you are a blogger, photographer, or just interested in volunteering, please join in! If you are interested supporting a sustainable future in Solano County, let's talk at
info@sustainablesolano.org
Something to share?
Newsletter deadlines are the 3rd Friday of the month. Please email to gabriela@sustainablesolano.org
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