Tour: Greywater with Gusto

Sunday, August 29th, 10am-2pm, Free for Cotati Residents $25 non-residents

Please register by visiting www.dailyacts.org or calling 707.789.9664

In this tour, we’ll visit the new, single-fixture Greywater System of Neil Hancock and Jenny Blaker. This system was recently installed under the new CA greywater code. We’ll talk about site selection and system design, pollution prevention, and the new regulations––and how to keep greywater safe for humans and our watersheds.

Two greywater experts will speak about the benefits of greywater: Trathen Heckman, Director of Daily Acts, member of Sonoma County Greywater Working Group and owner of the first permitted single-residence greywater system in Sonoma County, and Heather Shepherd, who planned, designed and installed the first fully permitted and compliant greywater system in Sonoma County. We’ll talk about how to best identify a prospective greywater site, gather preliminary data including soil percolation tests, and navigate greywater codes and ordinances. We will discuss environmental and financial benefits of greywater, and touch on watershed protection and restoration. At the end of the day, you’ll be equipped with the resources and information to realize your greywater goals!

Looks like an inspiring introduction to real-world greywater systems!

Link: Greywater with Gusto

Workshop: Food Preservation: Canning and Drying the Bounty

Saturday, August 28th, 10am-1pm, $35

Please register by visiting www.dailyacts.org or calling 707.789.9664

As our gardens overflow and friends and family run at the sight of another garden zucchini, we’ll explore how to preserve this abundance. In this workshop we will cover water bath canning and flip kettle canning and we’ll make our own applesauce. We’ll also cover other forms of food preservation including solar drying with a homemade, low-cost solar dryer. Learn how to make one yourself.

Led by Rachel Kaplan, a facilitator of Daily Acts’ Homegrown Guild who is currently writing a book about urban Permaculture called Urban Earth: Homesteading the City.

Link: Food Preservation: Canning and Drying the Bounty

Saturday, August 21st, 10am-3pm, $45

Please register by visiting www.dailyacts.org or calling 707.789.9664

Come visit the home and garden of Trathen Heckman, director of Daily Acts. We’ll explore Trathen’s backyard oasis, featuring the first single-residence permitted greywater system in Sonoma County, a constructed wetland, and rainwater catchment. Learn how it is possible to grow over 1,000 lbs of food annually using low-water growing techniques. We’ll tour this abundant city garden hosting bees, chickens, an apple-tree fence and over 200 varieties of edible and medicinal plants.

Then, we’ll see how water-savvy solutions have been implemented at sites around the neighborhood. Across the street is a water saving-and-harvesting food forest installed as a workshop in 2009 at the Cavanagh Center. Around the corner we’ll check out another abundant water-wise garden and home. Down the street we’ll explore Roger Gadow’s impressive site with over fifty varieties of fruit grafted onto a mere handful of trees, a rain barrel and much more.

Link: Rain & Greywater Fed Urban Oases

This solar hot water heating system is designed to heat water with the sun using a non-pressurized open loop of plumbing that is not tied into the plumbing of the bath house. In this indirect system, roughly 200 gallons of water gets pumped from a special solar thermal storage tank (see next photo) to the panels and back to the tank several times a day getting hotter with each cycle. These panels do not store water to be used directly by users in the bath house as they do in a passive batch system. Instead, they are designed to heat the finite amount of water that gets repeatedly pumped through a storage tank and uses a heat exchanger to heat the actual water to be used in the building. These panels are designed to run the water through as much piping as possible to maximize the amount of time the water is exposed to the heat of the sun. They are placed on a south-facing roof at an angle that ensures the fullest exposure to the sun.

The booklet includes an extensive list of resources and can be downloaded as a free PDF. Great stuff!

Link: Heating Water With the Sun: A Thermal Drainback Solar Hot Water Heater Demonstration

• Barton Stone on gardening without enemies – and article in the LA Examiner about Barton’s work and the workshop.
• Buddhist Anarchism by Gary Snyder (distributed by Barton in class, but also available here)
• Prayer for the Great Family – a poem of gratitude based on a Mohawk Prayer, from Turtle Island (1974)
• Brewing Compost Tea by Elaine Ingham of Soil Foodweb – a complete how-to on the method we used in the workshop.
• Intro to Permaculture handout from class (PDF)

Thank you to all who came!

Gardening Without Enemies: A Buddhist Approach to Permaculture

Saturday, July 31, 10-3.

Let’s learn to make peace with “pests” like gophers, scotch broom and blackberries, to move toward cooperation and abundance for all.

The workshop will take place at Mamalanda, a 4 acre permaculture place near Occidental.

Facilitators: Barton Stone, Zen priest and food forester, and Terrie Schweitzer, permaculture enthusiast.

Fee $40 for members of Stone Creek Zen Center, $55 for non-members. Includes lunch.

Register with barton@sonic.net.

How do you make make peace with would-be pests?

That’s why I love Using Less Plastic Every Day from HOMEGROWN.org, created by the folks at Farm Aid. It’s full of clever ideas to get your brain working to reduce your dependence on plastic, another petroleum product:

Abby keeps plastic out of the home by making her own Mason jar kids cups. The straws are plastic, but, as Carol suggests, paper straws are available!

The Homemade Cosmetics group is brimming with ideas for avoiding plastic bottle and jars: DIY Lotion, No Poo and home made deodorant among them.

Check out the full post more more ideas and links to resources.

Link: Using Less Plastic Every Day

If you’ve ever been curious about honeybees, join Daily Acts as we spend a day discussing what you can do to help the honeybees, which pollinate over a third of the food we eat. We’ll visit two outstanding sites, Beekind, a center for all things bee-related in Sebastopol, and The Melissa gardens, a bee sanctuary in Healdsburg. Beekind, owned by experienced beekeepers Doug and Katia Vincent, is a full retail store and education center committed to protecting the health of honeybees.

In the afternoon, we’ll share a potluck lunch in Healdsburg at The Melissa Gardens, a honeybee sanctuary founded in 2007. Designed by Kate Frey, two acres of this 40-acre ranch are planted explicitly for the bees, with botanicals that offer year-round nectar and pollen sources for honeybees. Here honeybees are offered a sanctuary and insulated from stressors in a beautiful setting!

You’ll come away from this tour better educated, and with your own Bee Plant from North Coast Native Nursery. You’ll also be prepared with a variety of actions you can take today to help the honeybees.

Saturday, June 19th, 10am-3pm, $35

For more information and to register for this tour, please call Daily Acts at 707-789-9664 or visit our website at www.dailyacts.org.

Also, see this recent SF Chronicle article about The Sunflower Project, an effort to track the bee populations in urban areas by creating a network of backyard bee observers.

June 5th Greywater System Design and Tour at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center
Occidental, CA
Laura Allen and Brock Dolman will lead this one-day greywater intensive.

June 12th Greywater Primer with the Institute of Urban Homesteading
Oakland, CA

June 16th Hands-on Greywater Workshop- Atascadero, CA
Learn how to build a laundry to landscape greywater system, with Greywater
Action. Hosted by the San Luis Obispo Water District.
More info coming soon; watch greywateraction.org for details.

June 23rd Free Greywater Presentation
San Fransisco, CA
Learn about ecological sanitation at a public event hosted by the Richmond Branch Library.

July 12th-16th Greywater Installers Course
Petaluma, CA
Learn to be a greywater installer for your area. Hosted by Daily Acts.

Workshop: Transform your Thirsty Lawn

Saturday, June 5th, 10am-4pm, Free for Cotati residents, $10-20 non-residents

Please register here or contact Erin at 707-789-9664 or erin@dailyacts.org

In this class, we’ll delve into the details of gardens, explore design charettes of potential future plantings, and address how maintenance of a food forest differs from maintaining other types of gardens. Permaculture is an evolving process of creating perennial cropping systems that mimic a forest ecology. As the layers we’ve planted expand and mature, we’ll revisit them to see how they’ve changed.

Permaculture offers solutions to many issues facing municipalities: drought, budget crises, overtaxed personnel, and an urgent need for stronger and safer neighborhoods. In addition, increasing the lushness of fruit tree guilds and mutually beneficial plantings decreases the inputs to the site, saving money and maintenance. Get equipped with the knowledge, skills and know-how to grow your own productive garden, minimizing your own inputs and costs.

Tour: Greywater with Gusto
Check out these upcoming workshops and tours from
Sunday, June 6th, 10am-2pm, Free for Cotati Residents $25 non-residents

Please register here or contact Erin at 707-789-9664 or erin@dailyacts.org

In this tour, we’ll visit the new, single-fixture Greywater System of Neil Hancock and Jenny Blaker. This system, installed under the new CA greywater code, is located just feet away from Laguna de Santa Rosa. We’ll talk about site selection and system design, pollution prevention, and the new regulations––and how to keep greywater safe for humans and our watersheds.

Two greywater experts will speak about the benefits of greywater: Trathen Heckman, Director of Daily Acts, member of Sonoma County Greywater Working Group and owner of the first permitted single-residence greywater system in Sonoma County, and Heather Shepherd, who planned, designed and installed the first fully permitted and compliant greywater system in Sonoma County. We’ll talk about how to best identify a prospective greywater site, gather preliminary data including soil percolation tests, and navigate greywater codes and ordinances. We will discuss environmental and financial benefits of greywater, and touch on watershed protection and restoration. At the end of the day, you’ll be equipped with the resources and information to realize your greywater goals!

Link: 350 Garden Challenge

Welcome to the first year of Buckeye! Head towards Santa Rosa, California, and camp out for a week. Choose from a wide range of workshops every day, share food, and enjoy the fire together at night. What we offer has not always been known as ‘Ancestral Arts’, ‘Primitive Technology’, ‘Wilderness Survival’ or ‘Earth Living Skills’. At one time it was just simply, LIFE. So here is your chance to learn from teachers who keep these ways alive, to find doorways to deepening your connections to nature, to meet new pals, and see where inspiration takes you!

We are honored to hold Buckeye at YaKaAma Indian Education and Development, a local non-profit, and ask all participants to help tend the land with respect to ensure the continuance of events (like ours!) on their land. We encourage a family-oriented, all-ages event that will emphasize skills and materials indigenous to California, while welcoming skills, students and instructors from all over the map as well. The central arbor and fire pit will be at our core, with fields and forest edges for camping in tents, tipis, vehicles, and under the stars. The Russian River is accessible from the land by a 10 to 15 minute walk, and we are also blessed with poison oak in the forests to remind us to keep our awareness keen! We’ll have a map and orientation information for you at the gate.

At Buckeye, you might find craft and skill oriented workshops such as:

friction fire · plant fiber cordage · stone, bone & wood tools · buckskin · basket weaving · nature awareness/ tracking · pottery · local flora & fauna i.d. wild foods preparation · musical instruments · primitive weaponry · fiber/textile art · herbal medicine · shelter building · games · storytelling · basic blacksmithing · flintknapping · earthen ovens · natural pigments · sandals & moccasins · trapping · yoga · felting

And more! This year instructors are threatening to teach: wild seed food bars, parfleche making, and even Mayan backstrap loom weaving. We may have an on-going acorn processing camp and classes in building shelters that will stay on-site. It’s our first year, so bear with us as we navigate new waters!

The gathering features top instructors like Jon Young, Tamara Wilder, and Julia Parker, and the organizers have been hard at work getting ready for the event by preparing the land, gathering materials for classes, and more. If you’re interested in joining one of the work parties leading up to the event, send an email to califorigin@gmail.com. Registration includes breakfast and dinner, so this really is a fantastic value.

Links:
Buckeye Gathering
Confirmed Instructors
Registration

Oh hell yes….

Link: Dirt! The Movie

via Justinsomnia

Beltane — The Wisdom of the Fertile Heart
with Joyce Arnowitz and Kyra Epstein

All life is sacred, and everything in nature is communicating all the time—with messages for us that can lead to our own healing and healing for the Earth herself. During this time of integration between the feminine and masculine, we will meet some of the plants that grow locally here in Marin County, tuning in to the receptive parts of ourselves that can naturally “hear” which plants call to us for healing. As we experience the abundance of springtime in nature, we’ll begin to experience the wisdom and intelligence of the heart — and how it can help us build a powerful relationship with ourselves and the natural world.

We’ll enjoy the wild abundance in West Marin in May, get to know at least one new plant friend, tune into the “medicine” it has for you, and bring it home with you in a prayer tie we create. Joyce will lead us in a “marriage” ceremony for the masculine and feminine within….to bring in the passion, fertility, and abundance that is a part of nature right now for us. Might as well tap into what’s already happening….
Contribute your creative juice to the season, get to know other people interested in plants and healing, and find out more about yourself!

Date: May 2, 11 am – 3 pm. Meet at the Fairfax parking lot at 10:30.
Location: West Marin (Point Reyes area, to be announced)
Cost: $40 (financial considerations, call Joyce)
Bring: Your own lunch, good walking shoes, blanket to sit on, lots of layers, sunscreen, water.
Contact: Kyra (415.690.9603) or Joyce (415.454.1734)

Kyra Epstein loves helping others find the deep roots, healing, community, and magic that she has found in her sacred journey with plants. She leads events and sacred celebrations, prepares teas and medicines, leads Dances of Universal Peace, and is a sacred life path guide. She is lead forager and plant-community-builder for her bio-regional artisan herb tea company, Gaia Tea.

Joyce Arnowitz is a healer and intuitive with more than 15 years experience as a private practitioner focused on energy and healing for the mind, body, heart and soul. She is certified in bodywork, self-healing, and Reiki (Levels I and II). Joyce loves leading ceremonial ritual honoring our inherent connections to the magic and awe of life.

Using Animals Workshop Series in Bolinas, CA

Register: sproutreach@gmail.com 510-710-1054 (cell) PO Box 351 Bolinas, Ca 94924

Many people who eat meat feel that they are out of touch with the sources and processes behind the food that ends up on their plate.

The knowledge required to efficiently and humanely process an animal into food is an essential tool for self sufficiency. Beyond being a source of food, animals also provide many other materials that we as humans find useful.

This three weekend series will cover the full scope of slaughtering animals, processing, preserve parts for food and other raw materials; then using those materials to make a variety of products and creations. Participants may attend one, two or all three weekends. Each weekend stands on its own, however each experience will be enhanced by participation in the other weekends.

Processing Animals May 15-16 Utilitarian Uses of Animal June 19-20 Braintanning July 17-18 All workshops include camping/dinner

Weekend One: Processing Animals for Food~ May 15-16 Complete processing of goat, rabbit, & fowl. Skills learned can be applied to other similar animals, both wild and domestic. Including innards processing & cooking, fat rendering, broth making, sausage making, jerky, pemmican, and hide storage. $175-$150 sliding scale

Weekend Two: Utilitarian Uses of Animal Parts~ June 19-20 Large animal to preserve the skin by drying, work the sinew into string and the bone into a useful tool. Topics include hide storage, making and using rawhide, making hide glue, rendering fat for utilitarian uses, and using vitreous humour as pigment binder. $165-$140 sliding scale

Weekend Three: Braintanning Buckskin/Goatskin~ July 17-18 Brain tanned buckskin is a soft, durable & washable leather made using all natural, non-toxic and biodegradable methods. This weekend will focus on fleshing, scraping, braining, softening and smoking deer & goatskins and/or rabbit furs. $165-$140 sliding scale

Full Workshop Series$485-$415 sliding scale

Animal Processing Workshops taught by Tamara Wilder of Paleotechnics, which means “ancient technologies,” co-founded in 1992 with partner Steven Edholm. Featured in the History Channel Show, Modern Marvels: Leather; she teaches and demonstrate survival, self sufficiency and ancient skills around the country including: MAPOM, Old Ways Seminar Series at Pt. Reyes National Seashore; The Mendocino Art Center, the Northern California Women’s Herbal Symposium, the Solar Living Institute. She is also the co-author of BUCKSKIN: The Ancient Art of Braintanning Register: sproutreach@gmail.com 510-710-1054 (cell) PO Box 351 Bolinas, Ca 94924

More information

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