5th Annual Spring Seed Swap

ALWAYS A FREE COMMUNITY EVENT

Sunday, March 16th from 2-6pm

Chico Grange Hall, 2775 Nord Ave, Chico, CA

WHAT IS PROVIDED

• Over 8 tables of seed to exchange ‘Potluck’ Style
• Speaker Presentations
• Seed Saving Education
• Seeds & Plants for Sale
• Community Non-Profits
• Food & Drinks for sale by Chico Natural Foods
• Activities for all ages

SPEAKER PRESENTATION SCHEDULE  
2:15pm
Seed Saving 101: a focus on drought tolerant crops -with Kalan Redwood of Redwood Seeds: www.redwoodseeds.net  
3:30pm
Water Panel: rainwater harvesting earthworks, rain barrels and greywater systems -with Stephanie & Brian Ladwig-Cooper, Nani Teves and Stephanie & Tim Elliott  
4:45pm
Seed Stories: open forum on the beauty and importance of seed -lead by Joan Bosque

WHAT TO BRING ~ you do not need seeds to attend, please label your seed and plants ~

• Seeds, bulbs, plants, cuttings and more to exchange
• Used envelopes/containers and pens/pencils

FOR MORE INFORMATION

• Sherri Scott (GRUB Education Program) 342-3376 sherri@grubchico.org
• Stephanie Ladwig-Cooper (Chico Permaculture Guild) 828-6390 modcpg@gmail.com

More information can be found on the Chico Permaculture Guild website here. You can also join the Facebook event here.

Practical Tips for Conserving Water in the Landscape

Reducing outdoor water use on a residential scale is absolutely necessary during times of drought but is really something that we need to do consistently in the Mediterranean climate we live in here in California. Here are a few more tips to add to the article 'Save our water! Tips for conserving water outdoors' in the Chico News and Review January 30, 2014 issue:

1. Reduce/remove your lawn by sheet mulching
2. Plant perennials instead of annuals
3. Boost the soil food web living in your soil
4. Install a clothes washer greywater system
5. Harvest rainwater

Urban Permaculture Property Tour

In celebration of International Permaculture Day, May 5^th, 2013 the Chico Permaculture Guild is sponsoring 2 FREE tours of our urban permaculture project.

About the Tour:

Brian and I (Stephanie) are helping our local permaculture guild celebrate International Permaculture Day by providing a public tour of our local permaculture project; an urban 2/3 acre residential property that has been in development and succession since 2009.  (You can view photos of the Project here.)

3.5 years underway this property has been designed, implemented and managed utilizing the ethics and principles of permaculture. We'll be providing tour participants a first glimpse of this property which has not been open to public until now. We plan to provide and overview of the designs, permaculture techniques and strategies they used for creating an evolving oasis on this urban piece of land.

Map of Fruit Trees 2011 (canopy and subcanopy of forest gardens)

 Site Elements and Systems Tour Attendees will Observe:

•    From Swimming Pool To Aquaculture Pond

•    Rainwater Harvesting

•    Edible Forest Gardens

•    Perennial Polycultures

•    Coppice Tree System

•    Chicken Integrations

and more...

TOUR INFORMATION

Tour #1: 10am - 12pm

Tour #2: 2pm - 4pm

Registration is required; please indicate which tour you wish to attend when registering. Please register here: http://ipdtour.eventbrite.com/

Space is limited to 20 people per tour so register today to ensure your spot!

This event is free but donations are accepted to support the Chico Permaculture Guild and more events such as this one! No dogs or other animals, please.

Please join us for a day of learning and fun in solidarity with other permaculture activities around the world as we celebrate International Permaculture Day 2013!!

For more information please contact Stephanie at 530-828-6390 or modcpg@gmail.com

Due Diligence: Four O’clock Plants

Four O'clock flowers

Our family lives in a historic neighborhood of Chico, California called the Barber Neighborhood. Our neighborhood was named after O. C. Barber, the founder of the Diamond Match Company, who had a factory built nearby to process lumber for matches at the turn of the twentieth century. Our home was built in approximately 1909. Because of the age of this neighborhood we have found in around our property an abundance of old trees and shrubs of what many this day would consider cottage garden or great-grandma plants. One of which is the Four O’clock growing prolifically near our garage and Mandarin tree. Not many people go out of their way to buy and grow this plant in their gardens anymore. Why? I couldn’t say as I’ve found it is a really interesting and beautiful plant with a long history of cultivation.