“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
— R. Buckminster Fuller
What’s Growing?
The Sustainable Solano Blog is the hub for all the latest information about our many projects and programs, as well as a snapshot of grassroots community transformation in action. If you would like to comment or get in touch with local sustainability and resilience makers and shakers profiled in our blogs, please email us at info@sustainablesolano.org
Inspiring David Shaw Talk Launches Sustainable Backyard Program in Fairfield!
Sustainable Solano recently expanded its Sustainable Backyard Program to the City of Fairfield by launching a series of public education classes and workshops on the topics of sustainability, community resilience and sustainable landscaping. On August 26th,...
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Congratulations to the Cultivate Community Food Co-Op Team for a major milestone – INCORPORATION!
Big news! Cultivate Community Food Cooperative, Inc. celebrates becoming an official business entity in the State of California! Cultivate Community Food Co-op (CCFC) is working to establish Solano County’s first community-owned, natural grocery store- a one-stop,...
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Sustainability Through Permaculture in Solano County
By Tina Saravia, U.C. Master Gardener, Solano County It all started for me in September 2014, when I attended a talk on Permaculture in Benicia with another Master Gardener friend. I have heard of Permaculture for years, but it always seemed like a foreign concept to...
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Sustainable Backyard Program Expands Into Fairfield!
This August, Sustainable Solano celebrates the expansion of its Sustainable Backyard Program bringing inspirational speakers and free educational workshops and classes to Fairfield. The program will offer Fairfield homeowners passionate about sustainability and...
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Community Supported Agriculture: Supporting Your Local Economy and Food Growers
Nothing compares to biting into a fresh-off-the-vine summer tomato or enjoying a slice of pie made with apples right from the tree. There is no debate that fresh-picked produce is superior in taste compared to the chain supermarket equals that are on display under...
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What’s for Dinner? Vallejo Attendees Learn About “Bright and Light” Summer Recipes
We had a full house on July 29th at John. F. Kennedy Library with over 20 people attending to hear Chef Lisa Núñez-Hancock teach about how to make classic pesto, other variations of the sauce, and how to use various types of squash as a healthy alternative for pasta....
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Locals Turn Their “Waste” into “Want” at our Home Composting Workshop
Attendees of our June home composting workshop learned great tips on how to turn yard trimmings and kitchen scraps into rich, healthy soil for their gardens using simple composting methods, including the use of earthworms. The class gathered at one of the beautiful...
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Solano County Water Sources
Water nourishes our landscapes, keeps us hydrated and powers our wind turbines but have you ever wondered where our local water comes from when you turn on your faucet? Our state's water storage and delivery systems are actually quite complex. Its system of...
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Wise Water: An Informative Video from Sustainable Solano
For the past two years we've been working on our Demonstration Food Forests, with a major component of it being Wise Water use. Now, with the help of Constance Beutel, videographer extraordinaire, we wanted to share with everyone how very simple and replicable it is....
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What’s For Dinner? Vallejo
Eating healthier and incorporating more fresh vegetables and fruits into our meals is the theme of the new series of healthy cooking workshops hosted by the John F. Kennedy library in partnership with Sustainable Solano and UR what U eat. The first of these seasonal...
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Swale Tales: An experience of the Vallejo Installations and 7 Food Forest Tour
By Allison Nagel Sometimes the hardest thing about finding something new is wrapping your brain around how to approach it. When it comes to permaculture and sustainable gardening, no online resource can replace seeing, walking through, discussing and getting...
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R.O.O.T.S. Permaculture Training Course
Our Walk in a Food Forest Series is over for this year, but are you still wanting to learn more about permaculture and sustainability? Soul Flower Farm, just a quick hop across the bay in El Sobrante, has a permaculture design course that you might be interested in....
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Curious about our Vallejo Demonstration Food Forest Sites?
Learn about the plots, the schedules for the days, the families involved, and dive in to our community installation event! The future Vallejo Demonstration Food Forests The Enchanted Cottage Garden is a water-sucking, plain lawn that wants to become so much more for...
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Sustainable Solano Creating Wise Water Documentary
Over the weekend, Sustainable Solano, with our wonderful Constance Beutel as camera-woman and director, shot scenes for a Water-Wise documentary video. The video was shot at Birds, Bees & Beyond, one of the Demonstration Food Forests, with commentary from...
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What’s For Dinner? Workshop and Bookclub coming to Vallejo!
Sustainable Solano, The Vallejo Public Library and U R what U eat have partnered to bring the community a continuation of the What's For Dinner? cooking and educational series (now in its 5th year). This year's series features healthy cooking classes and conscious...
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L2L greywater workshop at Benicia’s Mayor Elizabeth Patterson house
On Sunday, April 2, as a part of the Benicia Sustainable Backyard program, about ten people gathered at a Benicia house for the final (for now) 2017 laundry-to-landscape hands-on greywater installation workshop. The host for the day was Mayor of Benicia Elizabeth...
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Announcing not one, but two, private food forest installations in Vallejo!!
Often times you find the solution within the problem. We couldn’t find one yard to fit all our educational needs of the demonstration food forest. So with the creative use of our limited funds we will be installing two! The Enchanted Cottage Garden is the perfect...
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Community Food Center dinner with Heritage Presbyterian
Over the year, a special partnership has been growing between Sustainable Solano and Heritage Presbyterian Church, for the sake of creating a Community Food Center in Benicia, a dream that’s been taking shape with inspiration from Sustainable Solano’s Exec Director,...
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Q&A with Anna Larsen of Siren Fish Co.
Our Seasonal Cooking Seafood Class is Wednesday, March 8 and we're cooking through our CSF partner's weekly seafood box, so we did a little Q&A with Anna Larsen of Siren Fish Co. Why CSF? Community supported fisheries reduce food miles, educate the...
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Benicia Community Gardens Annual Meeting 2017
Benicia Community Gardens Annual Meeting on February 18, 2017 After a brief welcome by Marilyn Bardet, Board President, our executive director, Elena Karoulina, explained that the Benicia Community Gardens and Orchard are now part of Sustainable Solano. In the past...
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“Greyhawk Grove” Food Forest Tour — Stop #5
It was a cool and sunny day for the Greyhawk Grove Tour, and perhaps it was that, or that our tour is gathering steam, that nearly 30 people squeezed into a room to listen to Lydia Neilsen from the Regenerative Design Institute. She started with a brief...
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Gamechanger Intensive — An Experience
By Nicole Newell Did you attend the Awakening the Dreamer Symposium in December? I did, and it woke me up. I was ready to see what was next, and signed up for the Pachamama Alliance’s 8 week Gamechanger Intensive program. The Gamechanger Intensive is an...
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