EARTH WATCH
GREENWAYS Valley Oak Tool Co. founder David Grau demonstrates the use of the company’s handy soil-aerating tool, the broadfork.
FOX DECLINE LINKED TO TOXIN
Mercury exposure through feeding on marine prey is reducing Arctic fox populations, research finds. Data published in the journal PLOS ONE suggest the toxin—found more in the Arctic than any other part of the planet—has played a significant role in the long-term decline in Arctic fox numbers, according to BBC News. On the small Russian island Mednyi (where foxes prey almost exclusively on ocean birds and seal carcasses), the fox population mysteriously plummeted in the 1970s; researchers believed an infection was to blame, but were stumped as to the underlying cause. Recent analysis of hair samples from foxes and food sources on the island discovered significant levels of mercury. When compared to Icelandic foxes, which live inland and survive on non-marine birds and rodents, the Mednyi foxes had much higher levels of mercury.
FRACKING MORATORIUM ADVANCE
California Democrats are making a strong push toward a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing that would allow for more comprehensive study of the oil-extraction method’s potential effects on the environment. Three bills advanced by a California State Assembly committee—Senate Bill 4 by Sen. Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills), Assembly Bill 1323 by Assemblywoman Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles), and Assembly Bill 1301 by Assemblyman Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica)—propose to halt the practice entirely for the foreseeable future, according to The Sacramento Bee. Opponents of the bill, including the Western States Petroleum Association, maintain there is no evidence to suggest fracking is unsafe. “We must identify the risks and assure the public that we are doing everything in our control to protect them,” Bloom said, “but to date, the state has failed to do that.”
LEADING GREEN DESIGNER DIES
Kevin Kurtz Pierce, a Chicago-based sustainablebuilding designer who was raised in Chico, died on May 2 at age 55 after a fight with glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive brain tumor. Pierce (pictured) designed the Chicago Center for Green Technology, the Windy City’s flagship green building and the first U.S. municipal structure to earn a Platinum certification by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), according to his obituary on Tributes.com. He served as sustainability consultant for the Green Exchange, a sustainabilityfocused business group, and also designed more than 300 affordable, sustainable housing units in Chicago and Indiana. Pierce and his wife, Annie Morse, shared a modest brick house in Chicago, and their devotion to reusing found materials and recycling was well known. Several of his family members, including his mother, artist Ann T. Pierce, still live in the Chico area.
Send your eco-related news tips to Howard Hardee at howardh@newsreview.com. 16 CN&R May 16, 2013
PHOTO BY CARLA RESNICK
Tools for the job David Grau’s Valley Oak Tool Co. makes rugged, practical tools for backyard gardeners and farmers by
Meredith J. Graham
Ttool business, Valley Oak Tool Co., was planted out on a field, along with potahe inspiration for David Grau’s
toes and watermelons and countless other organic crops, about 30 years ago. As a commercial farmer, Grau used many tools, and he worked them hard. “Toward the end of my time farming, I bought a wheel hoe that was made in Switzerland,” Grau recalled during a recent phone interview. “I was disappointed by it because it worked well but it fell apart in about a year. So I thought, I can make one better.” The seed had been planted. Grau, who was among the founders of what’s now the Chico Certified Farmers’ Market, quit farming, went to Chico State and became a psychotherapist. But he couldn’t stop thinking about that wheel hoe. And in 1990, he set to work building upon the blueprint that had been germinating for so many years. “I made one, and I sold it,” he said. Then he made more wheel hoes, and sold them as well. For a while, the tool business was mostly a hobby, and the tool he focused on was the wheel hoe—basically a hoe attached to a wheel that can be rolled through rows of crops for easier weeding. Grau is a strong believer in organic gar-
dening, and in buying locally grown produce. In fact, if they don’t know him from the farmers’ market, Chicoans might remember Grau’s popular organic-gardening speaker series held in 2011 at the Chico Grange. In that same vein of staying local, all his tools are built in Chico, with the help of his small staff at Valley Oak Tool Co. “Having been a farmer, I know that farmers are hard on tools. I built these tools to be, as I call it, farm-tough,” Grau said. “They’re tough enough to stand up to work on the farm all day, month after month, year after year. I also keep redesigning the tools. When I find a weak point, I strengthen that; then I find the next weak point and strengthen that. We make them here in Chico, so I control the manufacturing process.” And he’s not the only one who believes in his product. “I really like David’s stuff; it’s superrugged and well-made,” said Lee Callender, farmer at GRUB CSA Farm on West Sacramento Avenue. Callender has been using Grau’s wheel hoe for the past five years and, more recently, started using the
Tool time:
Go to www.valleyoaktools.com to find out more about Valley Oak Tool Co. and to sign up to receive Valley Oak’s gardening-tips e-newsletter.
broadfork. “They’ve saved us hours of work,” he said. The tools that Grau has created are
more sophisticated than something you might find at, say, Tractor Supply Co., but in all actuality are quite simple. The wheel hoe, for example, has a snap-release mechanism for the easy use of different attachments and also is height-adjustable, so it doesn’t matter if you’re short or tall—you can always make sure it fits you just right. “We use the wheel hoes weekly on the farm,” Callender said. “I love them. They’ve got different blade widths, so we can put a different blade on based on the width of our rows.” Callender compared the wheel hoe to a Hula-Ho, which he said is offered in only one width—about 5 1/2 inches—and is pulled, rather than pushed like the wheel hoe. “We mainly use the wheel hoe with a 14-inch blade,” he said. “Not only is it three times the width [of the Hula-Ho], but the way you’re doing it is more ergonomic[ally correct].” All the tools are made of high-quality heavy-gauge steel. And, true to the company’s belief in its own craftsmanship and design, they all come with a two-year warranty.
GREENWAYS continued on page 18