July 9th Field Trip Directions and Notes

At 1:00 PM, we will start the field trip at Garden/Garden 1718 and 1724 Pearl Street in Santa Monica, across the street from the Main Campus on the backside.  (Bring quarters to feed the meter!) 

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The gardens are easy to find.  Do plan on shielding yourself from the sun and have plenty of fluids on hand to stay hydrated. 

Approximately at 3:30, we will leave Garden/Garden driving east bound on Pearl to 23rd Street, turning right and staying on it as makes a curve near the Santa Monica Airport and changes its name to Walgrove Avenue.  Continue southbound and parking on the street near Venice High School and join us in the garden.  Parking on campus is not advised - the grounds people will NOT notify you when they are going home and locking the gates. I can get you out, but it involves driving over their lawn and down a curb, both probably illegal.  We will be on campus till about 5:00.  We will be doing a project in water abatement at the garden - this will be a practical application of some of the things you are learning in the course and certain to be valuable towards cementing your understanding. 

david

Link Goodness: Water etc.

Recent water links:

• Almonds in California: They use up a lot of water, but they deserve a place in California’s future.
  California's wealthy lagging in water conservation - LA Times

• California Urban Water Use Restricted While Regulators Give Oil Industry Two More Years To Operate Injection Wells In Protected Groundwater Aquifers | naked capitalism
  
• Climate change and the growing risk of “megadroughts” in California and the southwestern United States
  
• Dew collecting greenhouse to fight water and food scarcity in Ethiopia : TreeHugger
  
• Half of urban California’s water is used to water the grass - MarketWatch
  How you might be contributing to California’s water woes - The Washington Post
  
• In California, a Wet Era May Be Ending - NYTimes.com
  
• Nestlé has been pumping water from a national forest with an expired permit for over 25 years
  
• Nestlé’s despicable water-crisis profiteering: How it’s making a killing — while California is dying of thirst - Salon.com
  
• This roadkill map says a lot about California’s drought | Grist
  

   

  Compost and other links:

• 42 Flowers You Can Eat : TreeHugger
  
• Beyond Compost: 5 Ways to Get Your Soil Ready This Spring by Peter D'Auria and Miles Schneiderman — YES! Magazine
  
• Compost tea calculator includes recipes and guides for brewing your own fertilizers : TreeHugger
  
• Compost Tea Recipe
  
• From Watersheds to Mountains, What If We Based Our Borders on Nature? by Rachael Stoeve — YES! Magazine
  
  
• How to Grow Oyster Mushrooms at Home (and Get Plenty of Flavor and Protein for Free) by YES! editors — YES! Magazine
  
• Plant this with that: The science and folklore of companion planting — Homestead — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine
  

Sustainable Water Strategies Resource List

Mulch Suppliers

Soil and Sod, Pacoima, 818-686-6445

Foothill Soils, Sylmar, 661-254-0867

Easiest gutter diverter for homeowner rainwater catchment applications

Tanks

Choose tanks that ship from CA. Also sells first flush systems. Etanks is another option.

Native plants that can be used as lawn:

Carex praegracilis: Meadow Sedge, more runner, turf-forming

Carex pansa: Dune Sedge, possibly sturdier/less water use (according to Greenlee Nursery)

I use both interchangeably, retail source is Tree Of Life Nursery, plug 6-12” centers. Also available from Greenlee Nursery.

Festuca rubra: Red Fescue, the lumpy lawn, requires more water than above, but easily available.

Bouteloua gracilis: Blue gramma grass is also very lumpy, looks like a bluer Bermuda, great for desert/hi-elevation applications.

Books and other resources:

Eric D. Stein, Shawna Dark et al, Historical Wetlands of the San Gabriel River

Art Ludwig,

You can buy books, plumbing supplies, etc. from this website. Reading the articles on the website is an education in water storage and reuse. The only source of salt-free dish and laundry that I am aware of.

Ludwig, The New Create an Oasis with Grey Water, Oasis Design

Ludwig, Builder's Grey Water Guide, Oasis Design

Ludwig, Water Storage: Tanks, Cisterns, Aquifers, and Ponds for Domestic Supply, Fire and Emergency Use--Includes How to Make Ferrocement Water Tanks, Oasis Design

Brad Lancaster,

Another excellent resource for water use.

Lancaster, Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands Vol 1 & 2, Rainsource Press

Vol. 1 is overview, Vol. 2 is earthworks

Mollison, Mia Slay, Permaculture: A Designers' Manual, Tagari Publications

Hemenway, Gaia’s Garden, Chelsea Green

Orchid