RTP’s Jane Hamilton, organizer par excellence was busy doing several things at once and managing to pull it off.  You see, the big community wide rebuilding day–April 17–is fast approaching. Years ago, it used to be called Christmas in April.  So that may give you an idea of the intensity of the effort to pull the resources together for April 17.

Based on personal experience, RTP projects are the equivalent of old fashioned barn raisings on a community scale—and a lot of fun for the participants. For a  photographic history of some of their projects, click here and here.

For information on how to join in on April 17, check out the following e-mail from Jane…

______

Yes, it’s that time of year! Springtime & Rebuilding Time! 

On April 17^th 2010 Rebuilding Together Petaluma is prepared to repair 15 homes and 2 community facilities.  We have a wide variety of GREAT projects lined up.

Of course, we won’t be able do this without you.

Volunteer this day and help a neighbor or a neighborhood! 

• What: Rebuilding Together Petaluma Volunteer Workday 
• When: April 17^th 2010; 7:30 AM to 4:30 PM 
• Where: A wide variety of projects all over Petaluma  
• How: Register online at www.rtpetaluma.org

Even if you registered in the past, you need to reregister for this event. By registering, you can tell us who you want to work with and what type of work you prefer. It only takes a minute.

Once you are registered we will communicate important details about the workday & your role via email. 

Let us put your generosity and caring to work in our community.  

Thank you from RTP Board and staff but especially from the veterans, low-income, elderly or disabled Petaluma Homeowners who could really use some helping hands. 

Please call with questions! 

• Find answers to your questions
• Report concerns or file complaints (potholes, street lights, etc.)

The new menu is located on the home page: “New ! - Check out the “I want to…” pulldown menu on the upper left. We want to make things easier to find. If you have a suggestion, contact Webmaster”

Please take a few moments to examine the various options now available.

The success of this new link will depend upon people being aware of it. I hope the Argus considers publicizing the new link as well as including it as a permanent link on the Petaluma 360 Home Page. 

At the risk of pushing the envelope, perhaps there could be a cross linking of the Petaluma 360  “see. click. fix”  feature with the City in terms of exchanging information. Ideally, this would include reporting when problems were fixed or remedial action was postponed due to budget considerations.

Background

MLK Day is more than another Monday Holiday. It is also a day when people throughout the country join together to work on various service projects in their community…

Everyone knows this…right?

Well I, for one, did not.

Furthermore, my ignorance would have continued but for a request from Jane Hamilton of Rebuilding Together Petaluma (RTP)  to take some photos at the Martin Luther King Jr. “Day of Service” project at Valley Vista Child Care in Petaluma. 

I later learned that the Valley Vista project was one of many throughout the nation. For example, in the Greater Philadelphia Area, 70,000 people turned out to work on 1,100 community projects. (Link)

But I digress!

Valley Vista

On the rainy morning of January 18, I arrived at Valley Vista to find 30 volunteers. They were primarily employees, including friends and family members, from Kaiser Permanente facilities in Santa Rosa, San Rafael & Petaluma.

Their presence was due to the efforts of Carol Harris, Kaiser’s Community and Government Relations Manager (Sonoma/Marin) and Jane Hamilton of RTP. 

Kaiser and RTP have a history of working together in the planning and execution of  MLK Day projects with Kaiser providing grants and employee volunteers to work with RTP. And so it was again this year.

During the course of the day, they fixed  bicycles, scooters, computers, and skates.  In addition, one crew worked on painting a room–washing the walls before applying a prime coat and the finish coat. Another group worked on general cleaning which included, believe it or not, sorting through and organizing the Barbie accessories.

NOTE

• Rebuilding Together Petaluma posted a link to a full set of photos from the Valley Vista workday.  To view, CLICK>>HERE
• Also see the Article in the Press Democrat.

Close to 400 Turkeys Donated!

On November 18, I checked e-mail around 10:00 p.m. and found a message from Meloni Courtway (A Mouse in the Pantry) alerting recipients to the fact that COTS was in dire need of turkey donations to fill their food boxes on Saturday, November 21. 

Meloni’s e-mail moved like a tsunami through the Internet in Petaluma. Facebook pages lit up.

On November 19, Frances Rivetti  posted an article on her site– Trot over to the Petaluma Kitchen with a Turkey Donation Today 

And trot they did! 

• By noon on Friday, November 20, Elizabeth Hale, Director of Food Programs for COTS reported: “Since the email request went out, we’ve received 226 turkeys and they’re still coming! Petaluma is an awesome community!”
• John Records of COTS advised  later in the day that they received 60 additional turkeys, bringing the total donations, at that time, to 286….
• Records commented: “The run on the stores was so profound that one of my Facebook buddies reported that the clerk at Safeway guessed why she was buying the turkey.”

But the best news came at 2:22 pm Saturday in an e-mail from Elizabeth Hale…

Whew!  What an amazing day!  We were able to supply turkeys for all 230 food boxes and send 35 turkeys to low income seniors at Vintage Chateau.

And I just heard from my manager, Judy Hess, that Sunrise Rotary has delivered another 50 turkeys with a stated goal of another 50!

We emptied our freezer this morning and it’s filling up again!  This means not only will we have plenty of turkey to serve for our Thanksgiving meals at the Kitchen and the Mary Isaak Center, we will have enough for all the families who pick up their boxes during the week.

Many, many thanks to all who took their time, money, and energy to purchase and deliver turkeys to the Kitchen for those less fortunate.  You are the heart of what makes Petaluma a special place to live. 

Happy Thanksgiving,
Elizabeth elizabethh@cots-homeless.org

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STORY #2–PETALUMA DOWNTOWN CRAFT MART 

Sunday After Thanksgiving!

 (To Benefit COTS)  

In addition to reporting on the efforts of the City to reduce its water use, the Ban/Iribarne presentation included a striking chart of facts and figures regarding overall water usage and conservation in Petaluma.

These figures demonstrate the cumulative effects of people using more efficient fixtures and appliances as well as replacing their lawns with low water landscaping. For example…

• The report mentioned that one residential household reduced its landscaping water requirement by 42% or 37,000 gallons.
• Friedman Brothers  Hardware Distribution Center on Lakeville Highway cuts its usage by 30% or 692,000 gallons by replacing 35,000 sq. ft. of turf with low water landscaping.

Clearly, the efforts of individuals, businesses, and the City of Petaluma are bearing fruit.  Going forward, the numbers will improve even further if homeowners and businesses continue their efforts.  In addition to properties already converted, the City is planning to sheet mulch or convert the turf areas at the Police Station, Fire Station 3, the Library, and Wiseman park.

According to David Iribarne, to date the City has already transformed 103,000 sq. ft. of turf on City properties, saving 5 million gallons of water annually.

For a copy of the complete presentation to the City Council, click on Petaluma Water Conservation Report

NOTE: Larger versions of the two slides featured in this article may  be viewed by clicking  on the  icons below.

The Project Linus Craft Bazaar

Santa Rosa may be the home of the Charles M. Schulz Museum. Petaluma, however, is the home of the North Bay Chapter of Project Linus. 

Acording to Jenny Giacomini, Chapter Coordinator…

Our mission is simple: to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need. We do this by giving them gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created for Project Linus by volunteer “blanketeers.” The Blanketeers are part of our mission, as well: to provide a rewarding and fun service opportunity for interested individuals and groups in local communities, for the benefit of children.

As of June 30, 2009, the North Bay Chapter made 4,914 blankets and donated 4,832. Nationally, as of March 31, 2009, the 405 chapters of Project Linus have delivered 3.005,937 blankets…

To raise funds in support of their efforts, the North Bay Chapter is hosting a Holiday Craft Bazaar…

WHEN–November 14th from 10 till 2.

WHERE–304 Maria Dr., Petaluma

(Across the street from Learning to Learn Pre School, Maria & Professional Drive)

• Handmade items for sale at low prices!
• Baked goods
• Beautiful quilts
• Quilted coasters
• Beaded bracelets
• Christmas ornaments
• Toys, hats, scarves, and pillows.

A quilt raffle will be held, and we even have some fabric and quilt magazines for sale! 

CASH ONLY, PLEASE

They are now available at

City Hall Turf War–Part II

AND

City Hall Turf War–Part III Victory & Turf Transformation

The  links are to single pages so you only have to click once and then scroll down the page. They may take a few seconds to load depending upon the speed of your connection.

As a tease, you will have to go there to get the answer to the question presented below… 

 FOREWORD 

Update October 29, 2009–Two photo albums to supplement this article are now available: City Hall Turf War–Part II and City Hall Turf War–Part III Victory & Turf Transformation

_____________________

Before slipping into the role of Mulch War Correspondent, congratulations to the organizers AND the 230+ volunteers who participated in the City Hall Turf (but not the soccer field) Transformation project. It was extremely well organized, not to mention effective. You all have every reason to be proud about what you accomplished.

• According to Vice Mayor Barrett, the project will save 3.5 million gallons of water annually and will also reduce landscape maintenance costs.
• As Don Bennett pointed out in his recent column, the turf conversion project was a collaborative effort.* See City Hall leads in water saving. Also see Petaluma City Hall gets green makeover. 

There were several photographers and videographers documenting the event on Saturday. I also managed to take a ridiculous number of photos and will spend time this week editing them for publication in a future one click photo page.

While it is a cliche, I am not sure that any photo or video clip can capture the spirit and energy of the day.  You had to be there–watching the blur of green tee shirts as people went about their tasks.

*The City of Petaluma, Rebuilding Together Petaluma, Petaluma Bounty, and Daily Acts 

________________________

DATELINE: Petaluma City Hall, October 24, 2009

The Great City Hall Turf War finally ended with the successful final invasion by the Petaluma Mulchers Army (PMA) on October 24, 2009. The groundwork for the invasion had been laid by advance elements of the PMA on October 12, 2009 (See Petaluma City Hall Turf Attacked!  For photos from October 12, go to City Hall Turf War–Part I)

In the days leading up to the final battle, worried gardeners descended upon Sonoma Compost to stock up on compost and mulch–needlessly fearing a shortage caused by the PMA invasion…

In the early morning of October 24, 2009, heavy equipment and materials were offloaded at City Hall…

Vice Mayor Barrett addressed the 230+ assembled troops…

Then the PMA moved out to complete the turf conversion…

Assemblymember Jared Huffman stopped by to check on the PMA’s progress…

By the end of the day, PMA forces had shoveled, hauled, and raked–250 yards of mulch, 50 yards of compost, and 20 yards of topsoil. For good measure, they also built several raised beds, pulled out several bushes and shrubs, and planted several native plants.

In short…

• They Came…
• They Mulched…
• They Transformed…

NOTE: For larger versions of  the photos in this blog, click on the icons below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A popular low cost method of residential lawn conversion is sheet mulching. This technique  was also employed to build the community garden at La Tercera Park and to create a low water landscape around the Cavanagh Center…

Now the Mulching Phenom moves to take on CITY HALL!!

This month, the City of Petaluma, Daily Acts, Petaluma Bounty, and Rebuilding Together Petaluma will be working together to “… transform the water intensive turf & landscape around City Hall  into a dynamic, water harvesting eco-scape, complete with community gardens, water catchment systems, native and edible plants.” 

Overall, they will be sheet mulching almost an acre of turf.  Note: There will be no alterations to the soccer field on the west side of City Hall.  But everything else is going to be sheet mulched!

According to Rebuilding Together Petaluma, there are two workdays scheduled to complete this transformation:

• “The first day is Monday, October 12th  8:00 am to 4:00 pm, where we will need 10 to 20 strong volunteers   to help remove bushes, and cut an edge in the sod around all of the walks. Breakfast, lunch, and massive helpings of appreciation will be served.”
• “The second is Saturday, October 24th  8:00 am to 4:00 pm, where we will need 200 volunteers to do large amounts of sheet mulching and planting. The landscape we plant will provide food, habitat, inspiration, demonstration and education for our community. Coffee, Lunch, snacks and relentless appreciation will be provided.”

Imagine yourself as part of a group with shovels, pitchforks, and rakes at City Hall–and not  for the purpose of Public Comment!

To participate in the project, register to volunteer for either day at www.rtpetaluma.org or simply call 765-3944.  Perhaps even the Council Members will join in the effort.

When I last wrote about the Carstensen Strawberry Stand (Click Here), I did not imagine it would be a valedictory of sorts. However, Sunday morning I received an e-mail announcing that this year would be the last year for the strawberry stand.

The good news is that Sally is pursuing other strawberry ventures as outlined in her e-mail.

The e-mail is reproduced below with Sally’s permission

READER NOTE

When you finish reading the e-mail, scroll back here to catch the link to The Great Petaluma Squash Mystery (Click Here)

_________________________________________

Hi gang, 

The time has come for Sally Strawberry to hang up her commercial strawberry growing gloves.  It’s been a wonderful 10 years gang!!  I’ve thoroughly enjoyed meeting all of you and watching the pure strawberry enjoyment on your faces each season.  The berries we grew were such a gift and a treat and …. sharing them with you has been such a joy.    

Now, it’s time for me to change paths and make new choices.  My focus will shift from growing to consulting with new strawberry growers and home gardeners and coaching them to success.  I’ve learned so much during the past 10 years!  One of my first tasks is to coordinate an order of plants (my special variety) and teach a class on growing berries.  There are so many things to know about growing berries in Sonoma County!  What I have learned and can share will mean the difference between live, healthy, producing plants or…… zero production – seriously! 

For those of you who would rather not or can’t grow berries on your own, I’m working with CA Farmlink to find a new grower of organic berries in our area.  Petaluma Bounty has entertained the thought of taking over the production chores but is stretched for resources and is unable to jump into the mix this year.

So…. I’m still looking and putting the word out.  I hope to keep our Casa location and mentor a new farmer to provide you with fresh, local berries – maybe in time for the 2010 season.  Time is running out so that’s a big, huge maybe.   

For those of you wishing to grow the exact same plants as I do in your home garden…… 

The first thing you DO NOT want to do is purchase plants from a garden center in Dec/Jan/Feb.  Even if you get the same variety I use, they will disappoint you.  These are fresh dug plants and they will grow but you will have no production.  Trust me…. I tried it at home before I became a commercial grower.  Dismal failure. 

We use a summer planting system and frozen strawberry crowns shipped to us from the commercial nursery.  Minimum orders are 1000 plants and they come frozen.  I reserved plants at the nursery and can get them for you.  You cannot get the same variety, Chandler, to plant at the correct time, anywhere (I checked). 

Transplanting for this system happens during the first week in September.  I know it’s a short time frame, but I just got the brainstorm to pull this off J 

You’ll be ahead of the game if you have your beds prepared and amended, irrigation installed, and ready to pre-water when the plants arrive.  If you need instruction on how to do that, no worries – keep reading.  I’ll offer a class at the time you pick up your plants to help you prepare.  You can keep your plants in the fridge for up to 5 days before transplanting while you prepare your beds.    

To go ahead with this I need to order at least  1000 plants to make shipping feasible and in multiples of 1000 thereafter.  The cost per plant is 60 cents.  Bundles of 10 are $6, 25 for $15, 50 for $30 etc.  We space them 12 inches apart so calculate your area/number of plants based on the spacing.  If they produce well and Ma Nature is kind with the weather, you can expect about 1 – 2 pint baskets per plant.   

IMPORTANT and ASAP

Tag me back if you would like to be included in the order.  Pass the word along to friends and family.  I’ve enclosed an order form at the end of this message.  Just cut and paste it into your reply.  If enough folks are interested I’ll move forward with the order.  If you want in I’ll need to hear back from you by Sat 8/29 to allow for possible shipping on Wed 9/2 (arrival on Thurs or Fri) or possibly Mon 9/7.  The shipping is ALWAYS in flux every year for us.  This seems last minute but this is really NORMAL for us.  When the plants get here we hit it!!  I’m checking with the nursery to see how much time we have before the plants HAVE to be shipped.   

If enough folks are interested, I’ll email you back with a confirmation and firm distribution details. If we fall short I’ll send out a blanket email letting you know we didn’t have enough interest. 

I plan to distribute plants at the stand the day afterthey arrive (they have to unthaw so I can break them apart).  I’ll set up several times (possibly 10:00, 12:00, 2:00 and 4:00) so you can schedule time to pick them up.  I’ll also offer a “Sally Strawberry Success” berry class at all of the distribution times.  The cost of the class is $25 and I’ll provide you with planting instructions, tips, answer any questions you might have, and spill out 10 years worth of growing experience.  I want you to SUCCEED!!! ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_______________________________________________________________________________________

Name:                                                                 Email:                                                                             Phone:

# of plants requested___________

Desired pick up time   10:00  12:00  2:00  4:00

Sign me up for the class     Yes   No            Number of people attending  ___________

 Remember…… the distribution date is in flux right now and entirely dependent on the nursery and shipping coordination.  I’ll have firmer details today or tomorrow at the latest.  Keep an eye out for my messages J 

Cheers!

Sally Strawberry 

Carstensen Farms

Look for our berry updates at carstensenfarms.blogspot.com or google “carstensen farms” E-Mail sally@sallystrawberry.net