Community Creating a sustainable garden

Sustainable Gardens in Benicia Bring Water Savings and Build Community

Standing in her kitchen, Suzanne Briley looked out the window at the bustle in her garden. A group of people of various ages and backgrounds planted trees, leveled trenches to capture rainwater, spread cardboard and pushed wheelbarrows full of compost and mulch across her garden, shaping the space that would become a new food forest garden — a vibrant, edible, waterwise garden.

"Look at this," she said. The sight touched her. As the group built the new garden, they were also building community.

This winter, two Benicia gardens have been transformed into demonstration sites of what can be accomplished with sustainable landscaping and permaculture practices to create gardens that rely on captured rainwater, greywater and drip irrigation. These are the first demonstration food forest gardens Sustainable Solano has built in Benicia since 2014, when it created seven food forests at private homes around the city and launched what would become its Solano Sustainable Backyard program. Sustainable Solano is a nonprofit that started more than 20 years ago as Benicia Community Gardens and has since grown to include sustainable landscaping, building a local food system and bringing skills to the public and students.

The creation of these two gardens came out of a new leadership and workforce development program that is helping to transform Benicia yards in ways that save water and sequester carbon. In particular, Sustainable Solano is focusing on lawn conversions, greywater and rainwater — replacing standard lawns that can use up to 70,000 gallons of water a year with food forest gardens that, when mature, use about 20,000 gallons. In Benicia alone, the seven existing demonstration gardens save about 500,000 gallons of water a year with their lower water requirements and reliance on rainwater, greywater and low-water drip systems.

Sustainable Solano started two Land and Water Caretakers courses in January. One is offered through Benicia Adult Education,

while the other is a pilot internship program with Liberty High School students. Both are funded through the second amendment to the Valero/Good Neighbor Steering Committee Settlement Agreement, which focuses on bringing more water savings to Benicia, and have additional support from Republic Services.

Caretakers participants work with a designer through the process of meeting with homeowners, planning and creating a garden. They also learn about rainwater capture, laundry-tolandscape greywater systems that channel water from the washing machine out to trees in the yard, and installing drip irrigation. The lessons go beyond that hands-on work, with classes focusing on complex systems within a garden. Participants discuss healthy soil, conserving water, how plants work together within the system and beneficial insects. They also hear from experts, such as talks on personal and business finance from Travis Credit Union. Caretakers will take what they have learned from their hands-on garden projects and create garden designs for two other Benicia homes this spring.

Mayra Arce, a Vallejo resident, said she signed up for the Caretakers course to learn more about permaculture and how to create green spaces that serve a purpose.

"In my lifetime, I hope to one day be able to create a garden in my native El Salvador and bring this teaching to that community," she said.

Suzanne's yard was the demonstration site for the adult education Land and Water Caretakers program. Suzanne said her personal gardening philosophy aligns closely with permaculture, which promotes supporting natural systems and cycles in the garden — working with, rather than against, nature. She started her garden with an abundance of pollinator plants and wildlife habitat. When she heard about the new program, she applied to be an installation site.

"I wanted to have a beautiful permaculture garden that would inspire other people to do the same as well as make me happy," she said.

She envisions making her garden an experiential education space where others, particularly children, can learn about nature. It's a way of doing her part to make the world a better place.

"I'm extremely concerned about the future of the environment and saddened by people's lack of connection to nature and lack of understanding of ecology," she said. "I think education is a good way to turn that around." In addition to the adult education Caretakers students working with installation instructor Lauren Bennett and class instructor Shawn Carter on the design process at Suzanne's home, there were three weekends of public workshops funded by the Solano County Water Agency. The workshops covered rainwater capture and sheet mulching to build healthy soil and sequester carbon, a laundry-to-landscape greywater system to reuse and conserve water, and creating plant "guilds" that work together to create a healthy garden.

Kimyia Taylor with Challenge Academy in Fairfield brought six 16- and 17-year-olds to the first workshop. Challenge Academy hopes to put in a fruit and vegetable garden that can provide food in the community. She wanted the young men to see what went into creating a garden and ways to do it that address waste and conserve water.

"We wanted them to see how much work it takes — it's not an overnight process," she said.

Other attendees were seeking inspiration for their own yards or wanted to learn more about permaculture.

The Land and Water Caretakers programs are only the beginning of Sustainable Solano's leadership and workforce development work in Benicia. There are plans for additional educational programs, with all of the programs having a tangible impact through water savings and carbon sequestration that comes through hands-on projects that include lawn conversion, waterwise garden design and greywater systems. Sustainable Solano will be looking for more public and private demonstration sites in Benicia to support future instruction.

Converting lawns into waterwise, edible landscapes gives people a way to actively participate in solutions to many of society's problems, said Shawn Carter, who is leading both the adult education Caretakers course and internship.

"When we build resilience into our social and agriculture communities ... we can proudly say we did our part on the micro level to regenerate the macro for future generations of plant, animal and human life," he said. "We are the solution to all our problems."

Ready to create a sustainable garden? Check out SustainableSolano.org for resources, classes and events. Benicia homeowners interested in being considered as a demonstration site for creating a sustainable yard can contact Allison Nagel at allison@sustainablesolano.org with program questions or to request a Sustainable Landscaping Interest Form.

BUSD New Student Enrollment JOIN OUR AWARD-WINNING SCHOOLS JOIN OUR AWARD-WINNING SCHOOLS

Enrollment for incoming Transitional Kindergarten, Kindergarten and new elementary & secondary school students to BUSD opens in February. Your child must turn five years old on or before September 1, 2020, to enroll in Kindergarten.

BUSD is also offering Transitional Kindergarten again this year for all Benicia students who turn five years old between September 2nd and December 2nd, 2020. Enrollment for this program is completed at each of our Elementary Schools starting the month of February.

Open Enrollment for all Elementary students desiring to attend a school outside of their school of residence will be held the month of March. Forms can be picked up at any elementary site and information is on the BUSD website.

Please call any of our Elementary Schools for additional information and to schedule an appointment.

Benicia Unified School District 350 East K Street, Benicia, CA 707.747.8300 • www.beniciaunified.org

Dirt? By Kenneth Hand Mulch?

For many gardeners, the winter months can be a trying time. We find ourselves racing the sun after work, trying to complete the smallest outdoor task before the details of our surroundings are lost to night and we have to retreat inside. Valiant efforts begin to dwindle and your once vibrant garden seems to fall into disarray overnight. Before you know it, December 21st, the shortest day of the year, is upon you.

A light at the end of the tunnel! As quickly as our world fell into darkness, it begins to pull out of it. At a rate of roughly 2 minutes and 7 seconds per day, the earth marches towards spring. Luckily, for those of us in Benicia, spring always comes early. While the rest of the country is trapped in an arctic freeze, most of California is waking up from its short winter slumber, and that means you should as well. Here are just a few important things you should do to get your garden ready for the growing season.

1. Clean up! Think of your yard as an extension of your house. Just as your house has a certain amount of organization to it, so should your yard. Organize your tool shed and make sure everything has a place and is in working order. Along with making sure your tools are clean and organized, make sure that your yard is clear of clutter, such as wayward pots, branches and twigs.

2. Mulch and give new life to soil Early Spring is a good time to add fresh mulch to your garden beds. Whether it’s store bought hardwood mulch, or leaves that have collected from the previous fall, organic matter helps breathe new life into tired soil. When dead and decaying organic matter is broken down by worms and microorganisms, nutrients that were stored in the previous generation’s tissues are returned to the top layer of your soil. Mulch also helps retain soil moisture and suppress weed growth.

3. Wage war on weeds Weeding, for the most part, is an endless chore, but if started at the very first signs of spring you can save yourself from a hot, dry, prickly mess and an endless game of tug of war in the summer. Weeds will take advantage of the cool wet days of spring to germinate, so while their roots are small and the ground is soft you can dispose of a majority of the weeds before they have a chance to flower and spread their seeds. Keep up with early spring weeding, perhaps adding a little pre-emergent corn gluten as an herbicide, and you will notice the quantity of weeds in your garden dwindle to a manageable amount.

4. Feed with fertilizer As a rule of thumb, the best time to start fertilizing is early spring when shrubs begin to grow new foliage. An all-purpose fertilizer that is slightly higher in nitrogen will make your plants grow large and bushy, stimulating new leaf growth. As the season progresses, switch to fertilizer that is higher in phosphorus for flower, fruit, and root development.

5. Prune Pruning in late winter and early spring is advantageous for the health and structure of your plants. Pruning when plants are dormant can help you to see the structure of the plant without any leaves blocking your view. You can cut off dead and crossing branches and shape the plant to a desired size and form. Some plants that respond well to early pruning are crape myrtles, butterfly bush, Russian sage and ornamental grasses. Avoid springtime pruning of plants that flower early in the season such as camelia and lilac.

These are just a few things to think about as you get ready to dive into your garden this spring and get it ready for the upcoming seasons. Now that the days are getting longer and the sun is shining brighter, it’s time to get to work and play in the dirt!

CELEBRATING OVER 6 3 YEARS IN BUSINESS! any purchase of $60 or more With this coupon • Expires 3/31/20

3635 Highway 29, American Canyon 707.642.4167 midcitynursery.com MID CITY NURSERY Plant spring vegetables, herbs & flowers now! Flowers, plants, trees, garden tools, decorative pots, garden accessories, low-water use plants, indoor plants & Master Nursery Products

Since 1946 ESTEY

Real Estate Sales & Professional Property Management

707-745-0924 216 First Street, Benicia • esteyrealestate.com

Sales Buying Investing Management

CaBRE # 00674738

Celeang our 72nd year of Busiss Celeang our 72nd year of Busiss

Small town band hits the Big Apple

By Jeannine Mendoza

What a happy revelation to discover that our own Benicia High School Marching Band, the Panther Band, will be performing at New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade this year! Under the direction of Patrick Martin, the Panther Band is known for being one of the top performing groups in Northern California. This group participates in numerous band competitions and concerts, both in our immediate vicinity and outside the state, and prides itself on its high level of proficiency.

The Panther Band is united by a common creed: Panther Pride. This pride and constant desire for excellence has helped maintain the quality of the program for over thirty years. The band has performed at local events such as parades, regional band reviews, and out of state events in New York, Chicago, New Orleans, the Rose Parade and at countless others. Handling the logistics of a large group such as an entire marching band is daunting, but the Panther Band is assisted by a local Benicia organization aptly titled World Projects.

World Projects presents music events for instrumental and choral ensembles from across the globe. Each festival is an unforgettable experience that provides an outlet for inspirational performance opportunities and first hand cultural exchange, all while sharing the joy of music. Their festivals and tours are carefully customized for all types of music ensembles at every level of music education.

World Projects assists the different musical groups in applying for the various festivals and events, helps them submit a video as part of the application, and once the musical group is accepted, World Projects handles the logistics of the entire trip itself. In effect, the musical group, in this case Benicia High Panther Band, is free to concentrate on their performance, and leave the details (plane reservations, room reservations, transportation to the venue, etc.) to World Projects. How fortunate we are that such a symbiotic relationship exists that enables our excellent high school band to enjoy these once in a lifetime musical opportunities!

For more information regarding Benicia High Panther Band’s schedule, check out the website, bhspantherband.com

For more information on World Projects, feel free to contact Deborah Gibbs at 707.556.5885.