Sensible

Last year this was a dirt bike path that I used last year to cross a field to get over to the North Valley Plaza. It has been reincarnated as a red-stained band of asphalt bisecting the 3-month-old Chico Courtyard Apartments complex on Pillsbury Road.
When I first …

We were cold this past January. Our HVAC system requires electricity as well as gas to heat the house, so when the power went out, the temperature in our place dropped to 57 degrees. The previous owners had the fireplace and chimney set up for a fireplace insert, …

Where do you begin in making a community more sustainable? I would suggest that the path to sustainability goes through the stomach–So starting a farmers’ market is a pretty good first step.
But it is also not an easy thing to do.
Richard Roth, founder of the new nonprofit cChaos, Collaboratively …

We are now into our second year of being homeowners in Chico, and can start seeing how some of our sustainability efforts are panning out in terms of our water bills.
The Good News
Even though this year the garden has quadrupled in size and we are babying 27 young fruit trees …

Chico’s first annual Green Baby Expo will take place this Saturday, June 21 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds. Admission is $5 per family and comes with a complimentary ChicoBag ($5 value) plus assorted goodies and coupons.
But more importantly, the Green Baby Expo promises …

Bees
I have taken some time to really notice the bees going about their business around my yard. I highly recommend it. I am amazed not only in their numbers–they are especially attracted to lavender and catmint (Nepeta sp.) blooms–but also in their diversity.
I cannot tell the difference …

The standard pair of men’s undies has four “openings,” shall we say. My wife was noticing that some of mine had six, or eight, or ten, and said it was time to get some new underwear. Perhaps I was overwhelming her with too much of a good thing.
I inquired …

Last Wednesday’s inaugural Gardeners’ Swap Meet at The Cause was a lot of fun. Traded items included home-grown lettuce, walnuts, cherries, grapefruit, plant starts, apricots, onions, jam, mint, and the first summer squash of the season.
This Wednesday’s Swap Meet is a twin billing, with veggies being swapped from 4 …

The City of Chico will be holding its forth in a series of public workshops to garner public input for the new General Plan. This workshop will focus on “Land Use/Growth Alternatives,” and will take place at the California Lakeside Pavilion on Tuesday, June 10 from 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 …

By now I am sure that many Chicoans have seen the electric utility vehicles that roam around the CSU Chico campus. But more intriguing are the two GEM cars that I see occasionally around town, especially the 4-door white one with the black fabric doors.
I go back and forth …