Greywater Workshops in Los Angeles

The folks at the Greywater Action Team asked me to spread the word on a few workshops they are doing in the LA area in October:

Going Green with Greywater

When: Friday October 14, 2011 – 9:00am – 12:00pm
Where: LA Eco Village 117 Bimini Pl Los Angeles CA 90004
Cost: Sliding scale $25-50 limited work trade positions available
Register here
Reusing greywater, water from sinks, showers, and washing machines, is a great way to save water! In this workshop you will learn safe and simple ways to reuse greywater, common types of systems, what products to use, and take a tour of several existing systems. We will also be creating a mock-up of a laundry-to-landscape greywater system with all the parts and tools needed to install it.

Greywater System Maintenance: Advanced Workshop

When: Friday October 14, 2011 – 1:00pm – 5:00pm
Where: LA Eco Village 117 Bimini Pl Los Angeles CA 90004
Cost: Sliding scale $25-50
Register here
Simple greywater systems require very little maintenance, but a small amount is needed! An hour or two a year can keep greywater systems well functioning and improve their effectiveness.  In the workshop we’ll review best practices for creating long lasting systems. We’ll observe existing greywater systems that are between two and three years old, from washing machine, shower, and kitchen sink. Participants will practice balancing greywater flows, checking mulch basins, and doing any repairs needed on the system.We will also review greywater system design, calculating greywater flows, plant water requirements, and new greywater technologies.This is a hands-on workshop, please wear clothes and shoes for working. Please bring a notebook for taking notes.

Hands-on greywater installation workshop

When: Saturday October 15th, 11am-4pm
Where:Los Angeles (exact location will be emailed after registration is complete)
Cost: Sliding scale $30-$100, limited worktrade positions available
Register here
Learn how to divert greywater from a washing machine to irrigate the landscape with a laundry to landscape greywater system. This type of greywater system is low cost, does not require a permit, and is easy to install in most home applications. This is a hands-on class, participants will be learning about and participating in the construction of a real greywater system. The class will cover: Greywater principles, the best plants to water with greywater, common pitfalls and how to avoid them, and how to install a system that is legal under the new California code.

(for Santa Monica residents only) Design and install your own laundry to landscape greywater system
October 8th and 9th, 8am- 5pm Day 1: Santa Monica library. Day 2: Your house! (You’ll be installing your own system)
Free workshop sponsored by the City of Santa Monica!
Contact [email protected] for questions.
Register here http://www.smgov.net/Departments/OSE/Categories/Water/Greywater.aspx

The low down on pee and poo-a composting toilet workshop.

When:Friday October 14th- 7:00 pm
Where: LA Eco Village 117 Bimini Pl Los Angeles CA 90004
Cost: Sliding scale $15-$5
Reservations required: [email protected] or 213/738-1254
This workshop will cover: Ecological Sanitation – waterless toilets and urine harvesting – can save water, protect the environment, and create free fertilizer around the world. Learn the “how and why” of composting toilets and urine reuse, see projects from Mexico, China, Sweden, Zimbabwe, and the United States. Learn about options for homescale composting toilets from urban to rural applications, operation and maintenance needs, and common problems and solutions.

Yet More Urban Homesteading Mistakes

My new excuse: I didn’t write it, the kitten did!

Three of my favorite Root Simple compound blunders happened this week.

Yesterday I announced a “Vermincomposting” class. I meant vermicomposting, of course, but I’d point out that it is good to remember that vermin are actually compostable, along with everything biological –including bloggers.

Earlier this week I meant to mention Native Americans  but, due to the lazy application of spell checking software this came out as “Naive Americans”.  Now, as I’m sure most readers of this blog would agree there actually is a class of Naive Americans. Maybe they’ll get around to opening some casinos. Oh, wait, Naive Americans go to casinos, they probably don’t operate them. This mistake reminds me of when the UCLA student newspaper, in a similar spell checking blunder, announced that the orchestra I was in would be playing Beethoven’s “Erotica Symphony”.

Lastly, I stained some cement pavers with iron sulfate and blogged about it. What I forgot to mention is that, the day before, I had accidentally reached for the bag of garden sulfur rather than iron sulfate and carefully brushed all 16 pavers with sulfur. The next day, noticing that nothing had happened, I realized that rather than staining the pavers I had, every so slightly, acidified them.

Time for those much delayed mindfulness exercises.

Upcoming Classes: Edible Gardening and Vermicomposting

A reminder: we have two very talented speakers and educators coming to the Root Simple compound to teach a series of classes. Sign up soon–they are selling out fast.

The first is Darren Butler teaching his Beginning Vegetable Gardening series, starting Oct. 4, and his Intermediate series starting Oct. 18th. The second is Nancy Klehm’s teaching an in-depth Vermicomposting class on October 23rd. 


Details below:

Consulting Arborist and Ecological Landscape Designer Darren Butler will be teaching two classes at the Root Simple compound starting next month. I’m currently taking a class from Darren right now at the Huntington and to say it’s amazing is an understatement. If you’re interested in taking either of these two classes email Darren at [email protected]. Will be great to meet you all! Sign up soon as room is limited.


GROW LA VICTORY GARDENING BEGINNING CLASSES
In partnership with the LA County Master Gardener Program

In Silver Lake: hosted by Root Simple
Tuesday and Thursday evenings, Oct 4, 6, 11, 13, 6:00 to 9:00pm
$85 early registration for payments received by September 23, $95 thereafter
$25 per single class if available
Silver Lake series is filling up quickly 

Recommended for those who have moderate organic gardening skills, are new gardeners, have moved to Southern California after gardening elsewhere, or who haven’t been satisfied with their garden yields.

Expected topics include seed starting, seasonality and what to do when, building raised beds, choosing containers, plant selection, transplanting, soil preparation, irrigation, wise water use, pest management (weeds, diseases, insects), beneficial insects, composting, harvesting, and seed saving.

INTERMEDIATE ORGANIC GARDENING FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Hosted by Root Simple in Silver Lake
Tuesday and Thursday evenings,Oct 18, 27, Nov 1, 3, 6:00 to 9:00pm
$115 early registration for payments received by October 7, $125 thereafter
$35 per single class if available
Special combined pricing for both courses hosted by Root Simple (if available):
$185 early registration for payments received by September 23, $200 thereafter 

Class topics:
Session 1: Intermediate Vegetable Gardening and Nontoxic Pest Management, including methods to maximize year-round harvest in Southern California
Session 2: Soil Science, Intermediate Composting, and Aerated Compost Tea
Session 3: Drip System Construction and Best Practices
Session 4: Fruit-Tree Care, Planting, and Pruning


Vermicomposting with Nancy Klehm


If you live in or around LA, we encourage you to take this unique class that we’re hosting in the Silver Lake area. While it’s pretty easy to get basic information on starting a worm bin, it’s rare to be able to dig deeper, especially with a teacher as knowledgeable as Nancy Klehm.

GET YOUR LOOP ON!
A workshop on extreme vermicomposting for the city dweller.
October 23, 2011
9am – 1pm
  • $45 includes foraged snacks and tea
  • $25 deposit required to hold your space
  • Only 15 spaces available
  • Deadline for registration: Oct 20th
  • Click on the “buy now” button bellow to register
  • Email Nancy for more information:[email protected]
This  class is suitable for both beginning vermicomposters and experienced  ones with interest in integrating their worm bin with their larger  household systems.


As cities struggle with basic recycling programs, and citizens  learn how to grow tomatoes for the first time on their decks in soil  from stripped from farmland and purchased at a store, there are some who  are curious about having a more intimate connection to their waste and  unveiling its worth.

In this workshop we will go “beyond the bin” and build a large,  outdoor vermicomposting system designed to handle both kitchen and yard  waste. The basics of worm farming will be covered, but emphasis will be  placed on integrating the worm bin into the wider ecosystem of yard and  house, such as:

* How to combine vermicomposting and thermacomposting in stepped systems
* How to integrate vermicomposting with a dry toilet or pet waste composting system
* How to best use your castings in the garden
* Tips for the apartment dweller
* What to do with all those extra worms…

And more!

Nancy  Klehm is a long-time urban forager and grower, ecological system  designer, artist and intrepid soil builder. She spent over five years  designing and running a closed-loop vermicomposting project in Chicago  that used 100’s of thousands of worms to digest 10’s of thousands of  pounds of food and paper waste to create healthy soil. She started The  Ground Rules, a community soil building center in North Philadelphia and  developed and ran a two year collective human waste recovery project  Humble Pile Chicago. She is the on-going bio-instigator of soil systems  at C.L.U.I.’s South Base in Wendover, UT.

www.spontaneousvegetation.net
www.socialecologies.net

Iron Sulfate as a Concrete Stain

My concrete Platonic solids stained with iron sulfate.

I’m not a big fan of concrete in the garden. It raises soil alkalinity (a problem for us, here in the Southwestern US) and it prevents rain from infiltrating into the ground. That being said, concrete is occasionally useful and/or unavoidable.

But I also don’t like the color of bare concrete, nor can I afford the high price of concrete stains. Thankfully there’s a cheap way to stain concrete with iron sulfate, a mineral supplement you can get at nurseries in the Western US (it can be harder to find elsewhere, but Amazon caries it).

Iron Sulfate gives concrete a pleasing, rust colored stain. I recently ended up with a bunch of patio pavers that I stained with iron sulfate in a concrete mixing tray using about a quarter cup per gallon of water. You can also mop it on. Varying the strength of the iron sulfate/water solution you use will increase or decrease the intensity of the stain. Remember that there’s no going back, though. Once stained you can’t get it out.

For more info about iron sulfate as a concrete stain see How I Stained my Concrete Floor.

Clean your hands with olive oil

I was just outside staining a piece of wood and got oil stain all over my hands. A bit of olive oil took it right off. These days, olive oil (or any cooking oil, really) is my first resort whenever I’ve got something staining, greasy, sticky or icky on my hands. I’m pretty sure we’ve written about this before–but it bears repeating: There’s no need to expose your skin to harsh chemicals like turpentine or paint thinner.

Usually oil alone will do the trick. For tough jobs you can grit up the oil with a few shakes of salt or baking soda. Sometimes a mix of oil and soap works better.

A sad but true story: As an art student, I was taught to thin my oil paint and clean my hands and brushes with turp. I often painted holding a turpentine dampened rag in one hand for hours on end. I wiped my turp soaked brushes on my jeans (’cause, you know, it looked cool). I cannot imagine how much turpentine I absorbed into my skin over the years. It was only much later that I discovered I could clean my brushes and hands just as effectively with oil.

Oil dissolves oil. Oil dissolves a lot of things. Keep it mind.