We will provide periodic updates on the process of creating two sustainable pilot sites at Hampton Bay HOA.
Explore different sustainable garden landscapes by scrolling through the photos below. While some of these focus more on edible landscaping, a sustainable approach can be use to create a variety of landscapes, including beautiful pollinator habitat as planned for Hampton Bay HOA’s pilot sites.
Find more examples on the Solano Sustainable Backyards page.
We will provide periodic updates on the process of creating two sustainable pilot sites at Hampton Bay HOA.
This site assessment visit was an opportunity for the Hampton Bay landscaping committee and landscaper Jerry Saitta to meet with designer Michael Wedgley and observe the two sites selected for the pilot projects.
This meeting was the precursor to the initial design and a good way to determine the desires of the HOA members and the needs of the site for swales, plant selection, etc.
The visit involved touring the property, learning about the HOA’s phase 1 landscaping changes and the process for phase 2. Some time was spent examining downspouts to gauge the possibility of capturing rainwater to feed into swales (in-ground trenches that capture and sink rainwater), and discussing some possible plants and design elements.
The next step will be a town hall meeting on Dec. 4 to go over the initial plan and talk about the benefits of this approach to landscaping.
Ingredients:
Salad:
4-5 Belgian Endives
About 3 cups salad greens: spinach / arugula / red leaf lettuce
3-4 large Bosc pears, firm but ripe
2-3 T. honey
1 T. fresh thyme
Salt & pepper
½ small red onion, sliced thin
4 oz. Goat cheese
About 1 cup walnuts/pecans, toasted
Garnish: shaved radicchio, fresh chives
Vinaigrette:
1 t. shallot, minced
2 T. champagne vinegar
Fresh orange juice, to taste
Honey, to taste
About 6 T. Extra virgin olive oil
Salt & pepper, to taste
Preheat oven to 400°. Slice pears and lay out on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Drizzle pears with honey, and top with thyme leaves, salt & pepper. Bake until tender, about 15 minutes. When cool, slice or chop.
Meanwhile, prepare the endive: Cut about ½ inch off the bottom and allow leaves to separate. Continue cutting and separating until leaves are detached. Wash and lay out on a towel to dry.
Make vinaigrette: combine shallot, vinegar, orange juice, honey and salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle in olive oil while whisking. Set aside.
Thinly slice salad greens so it looks like confetti (chiffonade). Add onions. Toss a little vinaigrette with the salad.
Build the appetizers: put some salad into the endive, top with roasted pears, toasted nuts and crumbled goat cheese. Grind some black pepper on top of the cheese and garnish with herbs or radicchio.
Makes about 32-40 appetizers.
Other filling ideas:
Ingredients:
1 T. olive oil
1 c. minced onion
¼ t. salt, or more
1 t. dried basil
1 t. dried oregano
1 ¼ lbs. fresh or frozen spinach, stemmed and chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ – 2 T. all-purpose flour (GF flour may be substituted)
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
½ c. cottage cheese
black pepper, to taste (start with ½ t.)
about 35-40 mini phyllo cups (Athens brand works well)
Heat olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add onion, salt and herbs, and saute for about 5 minutes, or until the onion softens. Add spinach, turn up the heat, and cook, stirring/turning, until the spinach wilts (5 to 8 minutes). Stir in the garlic.
Sprinkle in the flour, stir and cook over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes more.
Remove from heat. Mix in the feta cheese and cottage cheese. Taste to correct seasonings, adding additional salt and pepper to taste.
At this point, the filling can be cooled, put in an air-tight container and refrigerated 1 day ahead of time. When time to serve, preheat oven to 375°. Spoon filling into the phyllo shells (you can do this up to an hour in advance), place filled cups on a sheet pan and bake for 5-6 minutes, or until heated through. Transfer to a platter and serve.
Makes about 35-40 appetizers.
By Jonathan Erwin, Resilient Neighborhoods Program Manager
Sustainable Solano hosted Suisun City’s first Climate and Environmental Festival in October. From the long slumber of in-person events through the pandemic, it was great to finally see some friendly masked faces and engage with a like-minded community in Suisun City. Over the course of the day, presentations from San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, Pathways Climate Institute and Vital Cycles provided a vision and tools for the future while an engagement fair highlighted many organizational efforts across the area as well as broader Solano County.
Amidst the hubbub of the festivities, this event made me realize the importance of connecting with each other. For the past few months, I have found it hard to stay optimistic about the future. With climate impacts happening every day, it wears on my mental state just how insurmountable the climate crisis can feel. Coupled with the pandemic, isolation and physical disconnection from our support networks can leave us feeling the brunt of unsolvable doom.
But there is light in the end. Our conversations through the event both with old and new faces, reconnected us with the larger community across Solano County working and advocating for issues around the climate crisis. We have power in numbers, and our community is energized as ever for change. From resource management, transportation and sewer districts, we have advocates for this type of work across a spectrum of organizations. And the ideas that the 120-plus attendees from the festival came up with represent broad and different strategies that we can use to advance our work at Sustainable Solano and across the efforts of Solano County.
We hope to see you out and about over the next few months to learn more about what your vision is for a more sustainable future. Have an idea now? Feel free to reach out to us at info@sustainablesolano.org
Check out some of the presentations from the day in the videos below.
