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 and productive Benicia Demonstration Food Forests where there were plenty of inspiring surrounding examples of the roll that healthy, live soil plays in a flourishing and thriving garden.

The workshop was led by local permaculture and landscape expert, Kathleen Huffman,who helped connect the dots between soil health, plant health, and human health through an informative presentation and hands-on demonstration for creating various types of small composting areas in residential environments. A study of soil conditions at various stages within the garden and solutions to common concerns about space constraints, rodents and foul smells were addressed. Attendees learned directly how to best manage soil health, the easy way, and how healthy soil should look like for best results in the garden.

This workshop is part of Sustainable Solano’s “Healthy Soil, Healthy Planet” educational series offered in partnership with Republic Services. Republic Services will be sponsoring three additional soil workshops this year. The next one is September 9th.  Please visit our calendar for details and future dates.

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 reservoirs, aqueducts, and pumping plants are a result of the California State Water Project (SWP) and allow us to enjoy clean water every day. One of Solano County’s key water suppliers is the Solano County Agency (SCWA), a wholesale water supply agency providing untreated water to cities and agricultural districts in our county. Roughly 83% of Solano County’s water comes from Lake Berryessa with the remaining 17% being diverted from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Our North Bay Aqueduct pipeline delivers water from Barker Slough in the Delta to Solano agencies, like the SCWA for water supply.

As we reach for the hose and cranked our faucets as things heat up this summer, let us consider the tremendous human efforts and engineering behind the systems that bring us access to these precious drops and continue to embrace wise water use as a daily habit. When you conserve water, you conserve life.

For more information about where your water comes from, visit:

Solano County Water Agency
Water Education Foundation