Armijo High Students Reflect on Healthy Local Food

Mar 6, 2023

The Healthy Local Food program at Armijo High in Fairfield brings together 30 students each week to learn about healthy, seasonal, local food in both the school garden and culinary sessions. The program is offered through two SuSol programs — Solano Gardens and Local Food Cooking Education — in partnership with Innovative Health Solutions, Armijo High School and the school’s multimedia and garden clubs. Students will share what they have learned through final multimedia projects. Here, two students in the program reflect on their early experiences. Follow their progress on Instagram @healthylocalfoods

Matthew Madrigal (second from left) and Kenya Jackson (right) participate in the recent stir-fry cooking class. They offer their reflections on the program below.

Connecting in the Armijo Garden

By Kenya Jackson

When we first walked into the garden we were met with SuSol instructor Lauren Gucik holding a huge bag of stuff. She had asked us to gather in a circle wherever we liked. We immediately moved to a more circle-ish form but not too far from each other as we were all very nervous. We, as a group of kids, were very quiet because we were nervous. Thankfully, Lauren was very considerate of this and while encouraging us to talk, she didn’t mind talking to keep conversation going by herself.

Lauren went into quite a bit of detail about her past and told us all about her journey into becoming so in touch with nature. She asked for our input and acknowledged all of our nonverbal answers. We soon became very comfortable around each other as well as her. Once Lauren took notice she asked us to introduce ourselves and establish this as a safe space where we could take a break if we are ever in need of one.

While in the circle we were given seeds to break open and toy with, they were ours. Most of us peeled off the seeds and discovered they were beans! Luca’s beans had started to grow while inside the pod which we then passed around as we found it quite interesting and cool. Lauren had taken notice of Mariah raking her hands through the beans and took the time to teach us about sensory stimulation. She pulled dried cobbed corn out of her bag and gave one to each group that was established the week prior.

As we pulled the kernels off of the cob, we fell into steady conversation of our ancestry and where we are from. We talked about all we had in common culturally. Lauren’s ancestors are from Northern Europe, meaning she can’t burn sage since it’s Native American, so she burned rosemary, another protective plant.

Cooking in the Kitchen

By Matthew Madrigal

For our sixth week we made a stir-fry! But before we did that we discussed smells of foods that remind us of dishes that are important to us. We then went over the ingredients. Then we got to the actual cooking. Every time I cook in the program I just get reminded how fun it is. My team and I did pretty well. I and some others were even interviewed for a bit! When we finished, everyone’s dish was fantastic. It was a great day. I’m glad I get to be here.

Solano Gardens is funded by Solano Public Health. Funding for culinary instruction was made possible by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service through grant AM22SCBPCA1133. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USDA.

The Joy of Making ‘This Wonderful World’ Together: Musical Media to Share the Love Our Community

Mar 6, 2023

By Alana Mirror, creator of This Wonderful World: a musical reality-show where love for ourselves, each other, and the Earth become one

We enjoyed having Alana attend the Pollinator Pathway garden installation on Mare Island, which was through our Solano Sustainable Backyards program supported by the Solano County Water Agency and in partnership with several organizational partners. When Alana shared the music videos she created out of her experience from those two days, we were moved by the way she captured the sense of community and connection with the earth and each other that we treasure at SuSol events. Here, she shares a bit about that experience and her This Wonderful World project.

Alana Mirror, left, plants alongside other workshop participants at the Pollinator Pathway garden on Mare Island

Hi Sustainable Solano community! My name is Alana and I’m here to support this community with my media and music project called This Wonderful World, a living musical to celebrate all the wonderful things folks do to love Earth. I’m currently working on the spring season of this project, which largely features the Sustainable Solano community. In this season, I’ve been writing songs, making videos, and telling stories based on what I’ve witnessed in Sustainable Solano volunteer days — and you may be featured! These songs and stories are shared on YouTube as well as in a live performance.

Since I began participating in this community, I’ve been deeply inspired by the love, dedication, and warm welcome that has been demonstrated in the events that I’ve attended. I began this project because I was overwhelmed and anxious on so many levels. I needed something to help me keep my head up as we’re all called to create a world that thrives as a whole. It’s big work, but I’ve been so supported by the positivity and encouragement that has been shown to me that I want to pass it on. I hope this series can be light for you as you have been a light for me.

Pollinator Pathway Playlist

Sustainable Solano will be sharing this series in the newsletter, so keep any eye out for the links! As a native of Solano County, I am so proud of all the ways we are meeting the challenges of our time with love, inclusion, and great dedication to our environment. 

I also invite you to participate in the creation of This Wonderful World by sharing your story of finding hope and inspiration in this community. Here’s what to do:

Share a link to your favorite video/mini-series from This Wonderful World on your media channel of choice (including private email and texts) with your own tale of seeing This Wonderful World come to life in this community. If you’re on social media, make sure you tag  #thiswonderfulworld @sustainablesolano and @alanamirror so that you can see and support each other’s stories of making This Wonderful World together. By the end of the season, I would love to see a collection of stories from this community that can continue to inspire us as we move forward, together!

In your description, tell your friends and family: How did the wisdom of the earth and/or the love in this community support you in your life? What about your experience do you want to pass on to others, and why?

This invitation is open to both folks who participated in the events shown in the videos, as well as those who weren’t there, but who recognize what’s happening from other experiences you’ve had with Sustainable Solano, or other community efforts that love Earth. 

Thank you so much for being part of bringing This Wonderful World to life! It is a true joy to celebrate and serve with you. Hope to see you out there!

This Wonderful World is the latest production from Alana’s greater work, called The Living Mirror Project, a creative practice that generates peace by seeing ourselves in everything.

Learn more about This Wonderful World here
Watch the whole series here
Follow Alana on Instagram @alanamirror
Sign up for Alana’s newsletter here
Contact Alana at thelivingmirrorproject@gmail.com if there are any service events that you think should be celebrated in this series, or for more info on booking a live musical show.

Youth Air Protectors: An Important (and Exciting) Opportunity

Feb 23, 2023

By Prabhjot Kaur, Youth Air Protectors intern

SuSol launched our Air Quality program in 2022 in Fairfield. The program is centered around Youth Air Protectors — high school students and young adults who learn about air quality challenges that affect Fairfield and seek ways to educate the community about those challenges and possible solutions while working on hands-on projects. As part of the initial cohort of Youth Air Protectors, we thank Prabhjot for sharing about her experience so far!

Youth Air Protectors interns (Prabhjot is second from left) work on collage projects to envision a world that is environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just

The Youth Air Protectors program by Sustainable Solano is definitely something I will often look back on in the future. I found out about the Youth Air Protectors program from my friend, who persuaded me to apply for it. I signed up with the expectation that the program would require interns to research about the environment and air pollution levels, remaining strictly academic. However, I was incredibly surprised when we were asked to make a collage about nature and what we perceived to be a sustainable, or ideal world during the internship certification meetings. I was even more shocked when I realized that I was unable to visualize a world like that even though I considered myself to be fairly optimistic. Also, later on in the internship, we were given the task of designing flyers that would raise awareness about air pollution in our community. Overall, the program offers more creative freedom and independence than I initially expected, which was a pleasant surprise.

My other expectation when signing up was that the program would focus strictly on air pollution. However, in the internship certification meetings, we were given the assignment to watch videos from an online course called “Awakening the Dreamer,” which informed us about the current major world crises. It was interesting to see how the problem of air pollution related to social and economic issues. Also, the videos showed me how the efforts of environmentalists are making a significant difference, and with more consistent efforts, we can eventually reverse climate change, which was something that I originally thought was impossible.

SuSol interns explore a demonstration food forest during a tree guild workshop

However, what I was truly excited about when applying for this program was going outside and interacting with nature. As someone who spends a lot of time indoors, I figured that this would be a great opportunity to possibly plant flora and meet new people. Due to this, I decided to attend a Tree Guild Workshop, which was run by Sustainable Solano. Although I did not get to install plants, it was calming to walk around and learn about sustainable gardens. On top of that, everyone at the event was really kind, and they were happy to answer any questions I had about gardening and the environment in general. It was definitely one of my best, carefree and most memorable days of 2022.

From the fact that the air pollution level in Fairfield is causing rates of asthma that are considerably higher than the rest of California to the fact that dandelions are not always “weeds,” I have already learned a great deal from the internship. And there is still a lot more to come that I am excited for! In the future, we are going to be participating in beautification projects, sustainability walks, and other garden installation events. Overall, I am glad that I was given this opportunity and made the decision to apply for the Youth Air Protectors program, because it is definitely shaping up to be one of the most important parts of my high school experience.

We are seeking applicants for the next cohort of Youth Air Protectors that starts in April. Interested? You can learn more and apply here.

Interested in learning more about the Air Quality program and how you can be part of working toward better air quality for Fairfield? Learn more here!

New Food Forest Garden at City Church of Fairfield to Feed Underserved Community

Feb 23, 2023

Feb. 23, 2023
For immediate release

Media Contact: Allison Nagel
805-512-0901
allison@sustainablesolano.org
Interviews, photos and other materials available upon request

Quick facts:

 

New Food Forest Garden at City Church of Fairfield to Feed Underserved Community

A new garden going in at City Church of Fairfield will help to feed the local community, including those most at-risk for food insecurity in the low-income and unhoused communities.

The garden will be installed on Feb. 25 and March 4 through a series of public workshops through Sustainable Solano’s Solano Gardens program. The Solano Gardens program, funded by Solano Public Health, creates and supports gardens that provide access to fresh produce in communities that have historically experienced limited access to healthy food. Through recent expansion of the program, Solano Gardens also is building a network of community gardens and individual gardeners to share knowledge, resources and opportunities.

The addition of the garden at City Church aligns closely with the church’s mission to help locally through outreach programs. These programs include a navigation center, residential program, free clinic, food distribution, and a safe place to park for the night with showers and meals available.

Anyone interested in supporting this project while learning about sustainable ways of creating food-producing gardens is invited to attend and participate in the upcoming workshops.

 

About City Church of Fairfield

City Church Fairfield is a “Missional” Church. This means that we believe God commands us to help locally in our own surrounding communities. We are a church that fulfills our call in a unique way through our outreach programs. Those programs are the City Livin’ Center, City Navigation Center, City Free Clinic, City Park N Sleep, and City Strike Force.

For more information, visit citychurchfairfield.com

About Sustainable Solano

Sustainable Solano is a countywide nonprofit organization that is dedicated to “Nurturing Initiatives for the Good of the Whole.” The organization, now in its second decade, brings together programs that support and sustain one another and the Solano County community. Initiatives include sustainable landscaping, local food, resilient neighborhoods, youth leadership, sustaining conversations and community gardens.

For more information, visit sustainablesolano.org 

For more on Solano Gardens, visit sustainablesolano.org/solano-gardens

Pollinator Pathway Garden Puts Spotlight on Native Plants & Pollinators on Mare Island

Jan 31, 2023

By Nicole Newell, Sustainable Landscaping Program Manager

Painted lines and flags show the sections of the Pollinator Pathway garden that will focus on different types of pollinators once this lawn is converted into a native plant garden

 

Sometimes the vision to create something different takes a variety of partners to move toward reality. A vision of transforming Mare Island to support local pollinators is taking a step forward with the creation of Pollinator Pathway, a new educational demonstration garden that will highlight waterwise native plants that feed and nurture pollinators.

Vilma Aquino from Vallejo People’s Garden contacted us last year with the vision to replace the lawn at the Global Center for Success with a pollinator habitat to educate the community on the use of California native and pollinator plants in the landscape. She explained that monarch butterflies overwinter in the eucalyptus and redwood trees by St. Peter’s Chapel on Mare Island and that their numbers have been declining over the years. I wasn’t aware that monarch butterflies overwinter in Solano County! During the Thanksgiving 2022 Monarch count, approximately 300,000 monarch butterflies were counted at over 400 overwintering sites up and down the California coast. At St. Peter’s Chapel, the Monarch Milkweed Project counted approximately 500 monarch butterflies, but they didn’t overwinter. The Monarch Milkweed Project believes they moved on because there were not enough nectar plants on Mare Island for them and that St. Peter’s grove might need some changes to support a large population of butterflies.

I definitely have noticed the Mare Island streets lined with water-thirsty green lawns. It inspired me to dream and ask the question: What would it look like if everyone transitioned the water-loving lawn to drought-tolerant California native and pollinator plants that create habitat for pollinators including the monarch butterflies?

Toward that vision, SuSol is excited to partner with Vallejo People’s Garden to create a demonstration site that will show just how people could do that with their own landscape. On Feb. 11 and Feb. 18, we will be replacing the lawn at the Global Center for Success with a 3,000-square-foot California native and pollinator plant garden called Pollinator Pathway. The vision for this project is to be an educational site for people to learn about plants that provide habitat and food for our beloved pollinators and inspire others to replace their lawn with habitat.

What makes this project unique for Sustainable Solano:

  • This is our first project in Vallejo focused primarily on native and pollinator plants.
  • The plants will be hand-watered with the goal to stop watering once they are established (adding drip irrigation can be expensive, leave a carbon footprint and the expense and expertise needed can deter people from planting).
  • There are no gutters on this historical building. Instead of the swales people are familiar with from our other garden installations, we will be digging water-catching basins around the plants.

In 2009, Vilma put her dream into action through starting the Vallejo People’s Garden. She is passionate about education and has plans to expand the Pollinator Pathway into a self-guided educational garden where people can come to learn about native and pollinator plants.

Through planning this project we connected with a number of local organizations that will be collaborating with us! You can learn more about each below. Sustainable Solano holds so much gratitude for all involved in making Vilma’s Pollinator Pathway vision a reality.

Partner Organizations

John Davenport, from Cali Ground Troops worked closely with the Vallejo People’s Garden to design the Pollinator Pathway garden and he will be guiding the installation on Feb. 11 & 18.

The Monarch Milkweed Project is a nonprofit organization in Solano County that works to educate, propagate, and legislate on behalf of the Western Monarch Butterfly and other pollinators. They will be providing volunteers & education during the installation days, and will also assist with the expansion of pollinator-friendly plants throughout Mare Island.

Solano Resource Conservation District will be providing native plant and pollinator resources to educate the community during the installation. SRCD will be helping us source and pay for the plants! They will also be working with the Vallejo People’s Garden to provide education and expand the Pollinator Pathway throughout Mare Island.

The Vallejo People’s Garden sparked the vision for the Pollinator Pathway and will continue to care for this garden and the surrounding land around the Global Center for Success. This project will be an expansion of their edible garden with plans to continue to educate the community about growing food and supporting pollinators. They have weekly volunteer opportunities every Thursday and Sunday morning 9:30-11:30 am. Vilma, Suzanne and many other members have volunteered many hours to research, prep and plan for this installation!

The Vallejo Project engages youth in leadership empowered by service and community. Most of their programming is held at the Global Center for Success and many of their youth leaders are passionate about urban agriculture. The program runs its own garden (Unity Garden at 2160 Sacramento St.) as an opportunity for community members, youth and other stakeholders to restore an abandoned lot. Inspired in part by work with SuSol, The Vallejo Project is turning an area that was once filled with sand and garbage into a multi-level food forest that uses internationally influenced farming techniques. To support this garden, contact ann@vallejoproject.org. Vallejo Project youth will be taking photos, videos and documenting the story of Pollinator Pathway garden during the installation days!

Native Plants

Native and pollinator plants are included in all of SuSol’s demonstration food forest gardens. This is the first project in Vallejo where we are focused primarily on native plants and pollinators. Our local nurseries have native plant areas, but Solano County doesn’t have a nursery specializing in native plants. Oftentimes I will read about incredible native plants and then I can’t find them in our local nurseries.

The Willis Linn Jepson Chapter of the California Native Plant Society here in Solano County provided us with native plant resources and provided educational flyers that we will hand out on the installation days. They operate a small native plant nursery in Vallejo (about 1500 square feet of plants) producing about 1,500-2,000 plants annually. This nursery isn’t open to the public, but they do have annual plant sales. They also recommended the Watershed Nursery in Richmond because they follow best management practices to grow pathogen-free plants.

 

Native Plant Resources

Download this brochure with recommended native plants for the entire county

Visit the Forrest Deaner Native Plant Botanic Garden at the Benicia State Recreation Area

Solano RCD spring plant sale will be Saturday, March 25, at Mangels Vineyards in Suisun Valley

Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour 2023 (Virtual: April 15 & 16; In-person: May 6 & 7)

Willis Linn Jepson Chapter of the California Native Plant Society’s Spring Plant Sale is always the first Saturday in May (May 6, 2023) and the Fall Plant Sale is the first Saturday in October (Oct. 7, 2023)

Native Plant Nurseries in the Bay Area

Calscape.org is an excellent resource that will help you select native plants that will work best for your yard

Learn more about pollinators in this resource from Solano Resource Conservation District