Chico, Sustainable

I have a love-hate relationship with batteries. Mostly hate. I use both conventional (alkaline) as well as rechargeable batteries. My conventional batteries always seem to run out of juice at the wrong time. It is as if my very existence sucks the energy out of the batteries even when my flashlight, radio, etc. isn't turned on. Once drained of electricity, I am left with a chemical-filled paperweight that isn't supposed to be disposed of in the garbage can.

My dad always loved rechargeable batteries, but I find them darned inconvenient. I find they hold a charge for all of 5 minutes, at which point I get so frustrated that I go to the store and buy another couple of Duracells to eventually add to my paperweight collection.

On the flip side, I was checking out one of the thrift/antique stores last weekend and was amazed at the ingenuity of folks before the use of batteries, or even wall outlets. I was focusing especially on kitchen items this time around, things with gears and cranks and handles, made of cast iron and wood and glass, and no electrical cords. Gizmos that were built to last, or at the very least, built to be diagnosed and fixed easily (unlike my waffle iron).

I bought myself a $7 food grinder, the type that clamps on to a counter and has various attachments, including one for making nut butter. I had been jones'n for one of these for a while, but was waiting to find one in good condition. I finally got to cleaning it this morning, and look forward to taking it for an electricity-free spin in the next few days.

FYI, the Gardeners' Swap Meet continues each Wednesday evening this summer and into the fall. The next swap will be on July 1 at 434 W 6th Avenue, from 6:00 pm. - 8:00 p.m. Already this year the swap meets have seen backyard apricots, zucchini, lemons, and more.

Swap meets on the 8th and 15th of July will be at the Peace and Justice Center.

For the full Swap Meet Schedule, check out www.chicofoodnetwork.org.

We are fortunate in Chico to have access to food items that are not only purchasable in bulk (BYO bag, bottle, or jar), but are also local in origin. Growers such as Greg Massa (organic rice from Hamilton City) also often further discount their product for local consumers.

Here are some local-origin (within 25 miles) bulk items that I commonly purchase from S&S and Chico Natural Foods:

Massa Organic Rice
Lundberg Organic Rice
Chaffin Olive Oil
Tin Roof Granola
Almonds
Pecans
Walnuts

My beans are spiraling up their poles in a counterclockwise manner.

Apparently, all beans do this--spiral counterclockwise as they climb--regardless of whether you are in the northern hemisphere or southern hemisphere. There is a gene that codes for it. Nobody seems to know why.

Yep, big thoughts, big thoughts.

Our house is being re-plumbed, but it looks as if our plan to irrigate our landscaping using the grey water from our bathroom sinks, showers, and washing machine are going down the drain.

Soap, gravity and economics are not on our side.

For those that aren't familiar with grey water, here it is in a nutshell: Water that is used for washing doesn't have to go to the sewer; rather, it can go back into the soil around your house. Landscape plants get the water, the you save some bucks by not having to pay extra for irrigating with potable water, and everyone is happy. (FYI--waste water from the kitchen sink, dishwasher, and toilets are considered "black water" and legally must be routed to a septic or sewer system.)

Sadly, its not as simple as it seems.

Soap is a concern. While we did use a garden hose to divert our laundry water to a maple and a redbud last summer, it seems that there are very few soaps on the market (I am talking all soaps, including laundry, hand, and shampoo) that are considered truly "grey water safe," and those tend to be a bit pricy. Others say to use biodegradable "natural soaps," and suggest that the soap gets diluted enough such that it isn't a problem. But what happens if you are irrigating with diluted soapy water in the same place for years, or even decades? More elaborate grey water systems are designed to filter out the soap, but this starts going a bit beyond my garden hose technology. Finally, it is not suggested that you use grey water for irrigating annual veggies, and I am also skeptical about irrigating fruit trees. This is problematic for me, as I am moving towards having something edible in every corner of the property.

A more personal issue is gravity. For grey water systems, you need some to move the water from your house to your landscaping. Our house is on a flat piece of land, so moving the water to a non-food producing location of our yard would require a pump, which requires money.

Lastly, there is the issue of economics. As I have mentioned before in this blog, water is undervalued in Northern California. We are already connected to the sewer, and the cost of installing even the most basic grey water system to save water does not make economic sense for our home here in Chico in terms of the amount of water we would be able to conserve.

The smart choice, in my opinion, is to use less water overall, and to try rainwater harvesting--capturing rainwater runoff from the roof in barrels and using it throughout the summer to irrigate nearby plants. I am pretty sure that is the direction we are heading.

This all having been said, I do think that there is a time and a place for grey water systems, for example, in place of a septic system for new construction. And there are plenty of others who agree.

On a tip from my brother and sister-in-law, we are now saving the planet one butt-wipe at a time.

In an effort to continue to reduce waste, we have replaced disposable baby-wipes with 6" cloth squares cut from old t-shirts and a simple spray bottle filled with water. We simply dampen each cloth with the spray bottle as needed. The used squares go into the washing machine along with the diapers. Alright, so it's not like we are getting rid of our cars, but the little things count too.

Speaking of cleaning up, I saw this neat contraption on a toilet tank the other day:

In a nutshell, once the toilet is flushed, the clean water that is used to refill the tank is first piped to the faucet for hand washing. The average American flushes the toilet five times a day. If each person also uses a quart of water to wash their hands after each flush, then this little doohicky has the potential to save over 400 gallons of water per person each year.

It's not a new invention, apparently they are pretty commonplace in Japan.

Hooray for Enloe, following in the footsteps of Kaiser and other hospitals, for establishing a weekly farmers market.

The market will run ever Tuesday from 2:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. from June 2 through September at the Enloe Conference Center's North Parking Lot, 1528 Esplanade (at 5th Avenue.)

Some are concerned that the market may adversely compete with Chico's other three farmers markets, but I disagree. I think both its location and day of the week will help to fill a void, rather than create competition.

So how do you get fresh local produce in Chico?

TUESDAY, 2 - 6 p.m.: Enloe Farmer's Market
WEDNESDAY, 7:30 am - noon: North Valley Shopping Center Farmer's Market
WEDNESDAY: 6 - 8 p.m.: Gardeners Swap Meet Free! (Locations vary, details soon!)
THURSDAY, 6 - 9 p.m: Thursday Night Farmers Market, Downtown
FRIDAY, 2 - 6 p.m.: Chapman School Farmers Market, Chapman Elementary School
SATURDAY, 7:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.: Saturday Farmers Market, 2nd & Wall Downtown

ALSO:
GRUB Community Supported Agriculture (food pickups at Dayton Road Wednesday evenings)
S&S and Chico Natural Foods both support local growers throughout the season.

The rebirth of the community garden at the Dorothy F. Johnson Center at the corner of E 18th Street and Beech Street is well underway, thanks to a $3000 grant from the Rose Foundation and the dedication of a number of community members and groups.

A work party is scheduled for tomorrow morning (Saturday, May 30) from 8 am to 10 am.

The garden is presently seeking volunteer community members who are interested in maintaining a single garden plot for the benefit of all. This is an educational garden for the community, by the community--ideally, individual garden beds will have different themes, such as a culinary herb plot, areas highlighting traditional Hmong and Hispanic vegetables, and heirloom varieties of plants, including the locally developed "Bidwell's Casaba Melon." Reply to this post or contact Ben Linzmeier at 715.570.9458 for more information.

Passersby are welcome to snack on the veggies (Anyone for a sweet cherry tomato?), so long as they save some for the next person.

A special thank you to local general contractor Robin Trenda and his crew for donating the labor to install a snazzy new fence for the garden. Meeks Lumber and Hardware pitched in building supplies at a reduced cost.

Community gardens face an uphill battle here, as these plots of communally-tended veggies tend to be more amenable to high-density urban areas (think Manhattan) rather than suburban Chico.

But that doesn't necessarily mean we should give up on the concept. There are plenty of apartment complexes in Chico whose residents might be interested in having a community garden within walking distance.

Or, we can simply change the model of what a we imagine a community garden to be, as with the Dorothy F. Johnson Center.

There is currently space for 4600 trees to be planted within Chico's public right-of-way, and thousands of more spots available in parking lots and on private residential property.

Those with homes in older areas of Chico can attest to the value of the tree canopy in both reducing the need for air conditioning as well as improving the general ambiance of the community.

The city lacks the funds to plant and maintain 4600 new trees, but that doesn't mean that folks can't take the plunge and plant their own trees in the space between the sidewalk and the street in front of their homes. I would recommend native valley oaks or California sycamores, however other good choices are presented on the Chico General Services website.