Learning All Things Compost at the Vaca Valley Garden Club

Sep 24, 2025

By Jill Hopkins, Vaca Valley Garden Club

We were excited to bring speaker (and composting expert extraordinaire!) Lori Caldwell to the Vaca Valley Garden Club for their September meeting. Here, club Vice President Jill Hopkins shares about Lori’s talk and the garden club.

Lori Caldwell presents all about compost

At the first regular meeting of the 2025-26 year for the Vaca Valley Garden Club, 54 members and guests were treated to the energy of Lori Caldwell, The “Compost Gal,” on Sept. 10. Lori’s presentation covered a series of compost contrasts for the Garden Club when she spoke of the appropriate Brown/Green Ratio; the difference between Damp and Mushy; the distinction between Aerating and Turning, and the distinct qualities of Hot vs. Cold piles.

Some important compost tips:

  1. Aerate that pile like you are “tossing a salad,” not stirring pancake batter!
  2. Chop your ingredients before adding them to your pile. Do not “dump and run.”
  3. Know your compost’s mood. Too much sun? Too much water? Bad bugs? Stinky? All fixable!
  4. Compost Happens! The time it takes depends on the ingredients, the care, and attention it gets, like most things in nature.

Sustainable Solano connected Lori Caldwell, consultant, landscaper, and educator, with the Vaca Valley Garden Club. In turn, Lori’s expertise in All Things Compost got people excited about a positive use of leaves, fruit peelings, straw, eggshells, tea leaves and branches. It was a good day for the Garden Club and a good day for Mother Earth!

Vaca Valley Garden Club

The Garden Club welcomes everyone with an interest in flowers, vegetables, trees, water, bees, bugs, birds, and the preservation of natural resources.

For additional information about the Vaca Valley Garden Club, attend one of its meetings at 10 am on the second Wednesday of the month (September-May) at Presbyterian Community Church, 425 Hemlock St., Vacaville. Before each meeting, an informal plant sale and boutique are held. Call President Glenda Riddle at (707) 330-8338 to learn more about the club.

Celebrating Outstanding Service: Honoring Noah Galgan and Stephanie Oelsligle Jordan

May 5, 2025

Stephanie Oelsligle Jordan, center left, accepts the award on behalf of Sustainable Solano’s Local Food team

By Taylor Collins, Development & Communications Coordinator

In recognition of their exceptional work to reach Solano County youth through Sustainable Solano’s Youth Wellness Program, Local Food program managers Noah Galgan and Stephanie Oelsligle Jordan were recognized Monday night at the 19th Annual CAC Recognition Awards.

The awards celebrate individuals and organizations who go above and beyond in supporting students with disabilities, and are presented by the Solano County Special Education Local Plan Area (or SELPA) Community Advisory Committee. This honor shines a light on the kind of dedication and hard work that Noah and Stephanie bring to the Youth Wellness Program, particularly in bringing the program to Golden Hills Education Center in 2024.

Through hands-on experiences in the kitchen and the garden, Noah and Stephanie have guided numerous students in harvesting, preparing, and sharing nourishing meals at the table. Cooking and gardening are incredible tools for teaching patience, responsibility, and resilience. These experiences also spark curiosity and confidence in students who may have never planted a seed or cooked a fresh meal before. By showing students that food doesn’t just come from a store shelf, but from the Earth and our collective care for it, the program builds both life skills and a sense of stewardship.

Since its inception in 2022, the program has served more than 160 Solano high school students.

Please join us in congratulating Noah and Stephanie for this well-deserved recognition!

2025 Benicia & Vallejo Tour: Featured Gardens

Apr 10, 2025

Scroll through the list below to read about the Benicia and Vallejo gardens that are featured on this year’s tour, and to learn about special offerings at some of the gardens!

Register for the April 26 tour here!

Benicia Food Forest, Pollinator & Community Gardens

Avant Garden

The spring garden tour will begin at 9 am at Avant Community Garden in Benicia with a Permaculture 101 talk from Anne Freiwald. She is an experienced permaculture designer and always inspirational! Anne Freiwald and Lydia Neilsen will teach this year’s Permaculture Design Certificate course that starts in August, so this is a great opportunity to learn more about that program as well. Itinerary pick up will be from 9-11 am. Sustainable Solano Board Member Maggie Kolk, a Master Gardener, will host a Master Gardener information table. Come with your questions! Also during that time, Benicia interns will be highlighting their final project with a local food tasting, seed planting, handing out a scavenger hunt for youth and more.

Bay Vista Homeowners Association

 In June 2024, Bay Vista HOA in Benicia transformed its common area lawn into a waterwise, sustainable landscape to reduce water and beautify the space.

Michael Wedgley from Soilogical was the designer for this project. A lot of consideration went into plant selection. It was important to provide plenty of native species for habitat and food for native insects and birds, while also considering aesthetics as a critical aspect in HOA common spaces.

The plants selected and water catchment from the roof downspouts to the in-ground basins makes the landscape more resilient and builds healthy soil.

Learn more

Greyhawk Grove

Greyhawk Garden after installation

A 10-year-old established food forest with two swales that are dug out and refreshed every 2-3 years, laundry-to-landscape greywater to fruit trees, and chickens. The drip irrigation system was removed four years ago and the garden is thriving! Annual beds are hand-watered once a week during the growing season. Water elements in the form of fountains were added last year, which lured in a wild (non-venomous) snake who can sometimes be seen lounging between flagstones, and a frog who can be heard at night. Special thanks to Solano County mosquito abatement for the mosquito fish who overwintered and continue to thrive in the fountains. Greyhawk Grove is a “high-traffic-survival-of-the-fittest” garden.

***There may be lemonade and baked goods for sale by children, as well as products from the garden to give away (dried calendula, lavender, herbs, eggs, fruit, etc.).

Learn more

Living and Learning

Established front yard food forest that replaced a lawn in 2016 with two swales, a laundry-to-landscape greywater system and a diverse group of plants and fruit trees that has now expanded throughout the property. There are small spaces for relaxing and enjoying throughout the garden.

Learn more

Redwood Guild

Food forest garden and greywater system installed as part of Sustainable Solano’s 2021 Permaculture Design Certificate course, with students transforming the front lawn with rain-capturing swales and planted berms and converting the sprinkler system to drip irrigation. The side yard is watered by a laundry-to-landscape greywater system and includes edible plants and native pollinators. This home has its own redwood grove, and certain plants were selected that do well in the unique conditions created by redwoods. The food forest keepers are using that knowledge to add other plants to the garden that will thrive alongside the redwoods.

Learn more

Wild Cherry Way

Southern slope food forest focused on pollinators, shrubs and native plants. This garden also includes fruit trees, perennial and edible plants, swales and a laundry-to-landscape greywater system.

***Sustainable Solano Board Member and Permaculture Consultant Ron Kane will be on-site to offer tours and answer questions.

Learn more

Yggdrasil Garden

An evolving food forest garden and greywater system installed as part of Sustainable Solano’s 2022-23 Permaculture Design Certificate course.Students transformed the front yard with a rain-capturing swale and planted berms with native and pollinator-supporting plants. The west side yard’s passionfruit vines and fruit tree guilds are watered by a laundry-to-landscape greywater system. The monarch butterfly-hosting back gardens were designed by Soilogical, nurtured with specially prepared compost, and supported by a Water Service Irrigation design created as part of a Sustainable Solano irrigation class. The site’s current steward, Heath Griffith of Grow with the Flow, cultivates edible landscapes with flowers and medicinal herbs, with an eye towards community engagement and ecological justice. An herb spiral was created with bricks repurposed from the chimney of the circa 1850s historic home, retaining walls were built from pieces of historic on-site stables, and patios were made from slate and brick on-site. The east side yard (in development) is watered with both a rain-capturing swale and a laundry-to-landscape system. Displays feature the historic aspects of the home; its background and ongoing tradition of art, design, and healing; information about the Ohlone Sogorea Te Indigenous Land Trust and rematriation of Carquin land; and various permaculture systems and landscape elements.

***Heath Griffith will be on-site to talk about permaculture, water harvesting, sustainable water use, and more! They participated in the 2022-2023 PDC and will be supporting this year’s PDC course in the fall. The garden will also feature kid-friendly hands-on activities and live music!

Learn more

Vallejo Food Forest, Pollinator & Community Gardens

First Christian Church

The church has two separate gardens: one is a peace garden with mostly flowers, cactus and trees, and the other is the vegetable garden, called Johnson Ranch. The vegetable garden was revived through the Solano Gardens program. The food grown is donated to the local food pantries (Faith Food Fridays, Amador Hope Center, etc.).

***Solano Gardens Program Manager Parick Murphy will be on-site to share DIY Landscape Design templates for both edible and water-efficient gardens. He also will be highlighting opportunities to get involved with local community gardens and available to discuss interest in future community gardens within the county.

Learn more

Loma Vista Farm

Loma Vista Farm is a program of the Vallejo City Unified School District. Students come to the Farm every week to participate in hands-on plant and animal science lessons.

The Farm is partnered with the Friends of Loma Vista Farm, a community-based nonprofit organization, which fundraises to provide all the expenses for the day-to-day operation of the farm, including all the animal and garden expenses, as well as major ongoing capital improvements.

This has been a treasured part of the community since it began in 1974. Families and individuals are welcome to visit on a drop-in basis during open hours and enjoy seeing the many animals and gardens. The farm is also a field trip site for schools and groups on a reservation basis from all over the Bay Area.

The Food Forest Garden provides a beautiful demonstration to the public on how they can plant their own yard in a variety of fruit trees, perennial vegetables, herbs, native plants and pollinator rich plants.

***This year’s tour is on the same day as Loma Vista Farm’s annual Spring Open House, making it an extra special day to visit. Plants that the students have grown will be available in the greenhouse for sale, animal feeding will be available, as well as entertainment such as a puppet show. For more information check out Lomavistafarm.org.

Learn more

Morningside Botanical Bounty

Morningside Botanical Bounty food forest was created as part of the Resilient Neighborhoods Program. This backyard garden has a laundry-to-landscape greywater system, fruit trees (pruned to keep them short and easy to harvest), swales, drip irrigation, bee-friendly plants, native plants and shade trees.

It’s now the sixth year after the install and many of the plants are still thriving. The greywater system irrigates the bougainvillea and butterfly bushes, which are popular with bees and hummingbirds. The drainage from the gutters to the swale and hugel mound prevent the yard from flooding during the rainy season. The water is stored in the earth and is available to the trees, artichoke, and roses. The peach tree, selected to be a variety resistant to leaf curl, has provided fruit even in years when most other peaches in Vallejo fail. Once a week watering of the trees on site allowed them to grow deep root systems, and they haven’t needed irrigation the last two years.

Learn more

Pollinator Pathway (Vallejo People’s Garden)

Pollinator food forest garden filled with a variety of California native plants that support the habitat of butterflies, bees, moths, wasps, hummingbirds and so much more. This garden was installed in February 2023 as a collaboration with a variety of organizations including Vallejo People’s Garden, Vallejo Project, Solano Resource Conservation District and Monarch Milkweed Project. Alana Mirror wrote three songs inspired by the installation, featured in her Pollinator Pathway Lawn Transformation Mini Series!

**Solano Resource Conservation District and Vallejo People’s Garden will be on-site promoting the Bay Area Butterfly Festival on June 1 with information on how to support pollinators! Solano RCD will have six-packs of Milkweed plants for sale for $10.

***Suzanne Briley from Vallejo People’s Garden will be giving talks on Creating Spaces for People and Wildlife, looking at ways to have garden spaces for ourselves while supporting wildlife. Talks and tours will be from 1-2 pm and 2:30-3:30 pm.

Learn more

Vallejo Unity Garden (Vallejo Project)

Vallejo Project’s Unity Garden initiative restored an abandoned lot that was once filled with sand and garbage and turned it into a multi-level food forest with internationally influenced farming techniques, a mealworm farm and chickens. This garden is focused on urban agriculture.

Vallejo Project imagines a Vallejo strengthened by new generations of youth and young adults who are inspired to give back to their community as role models, advocates, entrepreneurs, and leaders, and who are able to articulate and implement solutions to challenges in the community based on their learned experience and knowledge gained through youth development programs.

***Free annual veggie and companion plants to take home while supplies last

Learn more

Partner Garden: 4th Second’s Cherry Community Garden

 

Since February 2024, 4th Second’s Cherry Community Garden has been a space rooted in well-being, hands-on learning, and nature-based experiences. The garden is home to organically cultivated produce and serves as a hub for addressing food security, advocating for environmental justice, and expanding opportunities via mentorship.

All community members are invited to actively engage by leading different garden projects that can intersect with practical life skills to further the 4th Second Youth Program’s overall mission of developing positive coping skills toward a life of self-determination. Garden guests will learn about the youth’s hands-on efforts in the garden and youth-designed projects.

***There will be multiple youth coordinators that are fluent in Spanish, and one of them is a former Rising Sun extern that is fluent in Tagalog.

Learn more

Inspired Garden (Sure-Would Forest)

The homeowners had a nearly blank slate when they purchased this property in 2021, and soon started working on enriching the soil, retaining rainwater, and laying the groundwork for a food forest. This garden was inspired by Sustainable Solano gardens and a love of fresh fruit. In just over two years, the site has gone from food desert to food forest with the ability to eat from the garden year round. The homeowners attended a design class taught by Joshua Burman Thayer with Native Sun Gardens in 2023 through Sustainable Solano’s backyard program. In June 2023 they hired Joshua to update the design and add drip irrigation.

Inspired by rainwater harvesting systems seen on the 2023 demonstration food forest tour, the homeowners bought and installed four IBC totes to collect water from their downspouts. The irrigation system for Sure-Would Forest is designed to feed from either city water or rainwater storage tanks, allowing over 1,000 gallons of rainwater to be used to irrigate the garden.

**At 2 pm, the homeowner will talk about how he converted IBC totes to capture water and irrigate his garden.

 

We are incredibly grateful for the generous support of our funders. Magic Cabinet is supporting this year’s tour through its sponsorship.

The first seven food forest gardens were made possible through funding from the Benicia Sustainability Commission; the Solano County Water Agency supported the Sustainable Backyard Program throughout the county  from 2017 through 2024. Occasionally we combine funding from other programs to make larger projects possible.

2025 Benicia & Vallejo Demonstration Food Forest Garden Tour: April 26

Mar 27, 2025

By Nicole Newell, Sustainable Landscaping Program Manager

Every year, as the first blooms of spring peek through the soil, excitement fills the air in our Solano County community. It’s time for our 9th Annual Food Forest Garden Tour in Benicia & Vallejo — an event that not only showcases stunning gardens, but also inspires us to make the most of our precious resources. This enchanting day draws gardening enthusiasts and nature lovers alike, all eager to explore the beautiful landscapes crafted with care and creativity.

The day starts with a talk on permaculture — designing in a way that works with nature — at 9 am at Avant Garden in Benicia. Attendees can pick up maps of participating gardens and visit Benicia gardens from 10 am-1 pm and Vallejo gardens from 1-4 pm (there will be an opportunity to pick up maps at Vallejo People’s Garden from 12-1 pm for those who can only attend in the afternoon). The tour is self-guided and you can visit gardens at your own pace.

Register here!

This year, we are more committed than ever to promoting sustainable practices that beautify our environment and offer an opportunity to build connections with each other within our beloved community. Wander through vibrant gardens during this self-guided tour, each a testament to the wonderful ideas that can sprout from a healthy foundation of soil. From compost systems to drought-resistant plantings to creative ways of growing food, you’ll be amazed by the resourceful and creative permaculture techniques on display.

The garden tour offers more than just beautiful views: it’s a celebration of community, creativity, and conservation. As you visit each garden, you’ll have the chance to interact with passionate gardeners who are eager to share their secrets and insights. Each garden has a name and tells a story — a narrative of nature, patience, and building relationships — qualities we all can draw inspiration from!

We hope you’ll join us for this special event!

Learn more about the gardens on the tour here!

How It Will Work

You can choose to tour for the whole day or for half a day.
Benicia Demonstration Food Forest Gardens will be open 10 am-1 pm
Vallejo Demonstration Food Forest Gardens will be open 1-4 pm

Register here

Itinerary pickup:

9-11 am: Itineraries will be available at Avant Garden in Benicia (400 First St.). This itinerary will include all of the demonstration food forest gardens in Benicia (open in the morning) and Vallejo (open in the afternoon).

12-1 pm: Itineraries for the Vallejo garden sites (open in the afternoon) will be available at the Vallejo People’s Garden behind  the Global Center for Success (1055 Azuar Dr/BLDG 733).

Highlights and What’s New

Every garden is an opportunity to learn about permaculture, native planting, water conservation, and much more. By attending the tour, you will leave with practical knowledge that can transform not just your own garden but also the way you interact with the environment. Here are a few new projects and educational talks that will be highlighted during the garden tour:

An Introduction to Permaculture

Anne Freiwald will open the garden tour at Avant Garden in Benicia with a talk on permaculture. After the talk she will be available to answer any questions about the Permaculture Design Certificate Course beginning on Aug. 25.

Interns

Interns from our Benicia Youth Wellness Program will be at Avant and Swenson gardens providing opportunities to learn about local food and gardening. There will be a local food demo and taste test. Interns from the Vallejo Environmental Leadership Fellowship will be at Vallejo People’s Garden in the afternoon.

HOA

Visit this lawn conversion project designed by Michael Wedgley from Soilogical and installed by the Bay Vista Homeowners Association. This project not only serves as an example of environmental stewardship, but also as an inspiring model for HOA communities everywhere. This project will show resilient plants that are adapted to our local climate and require far less water than traditional lawns.

Solano Resource Conservation District

Pollinators require specific environments to thrive, and Solano RCD will be providing education at the Pollinator Pathway garden on how to create and maintain monarch habitats; they also will be promoting the Bay Area Butterfly Festival on June 1 and will have 6 pack of Milkweed plants for sale for $10.

Vallejo People’s Garden

Suzanne Briley from Vallejo People’s Garden will be giving talks on Creating Spaces for People and Wildlife, looking at ways to have garden spaces for ourselves while supporting wildlife. Talks and tours will be from 1-2:30 pm and 2:30-4 pm.

We are still planning so there is more to come……

Together, we can grow more than just plants: We can cultivate a thriving environment for generations to come. Join us on this journey and be part of a movement that makes every garden a step towards connection and sustainability! Remember that every little change you make at home can contribute to a larger, more sustainable world. Whether it’s growing your own herbs on a windowsill or planting a pollinator garden in your backyard, the creative possibilities are endless!

While the tour is free to attend, we welcome donations to help keep this important work alive. This is our first food forest tour since the Solano County Water Agency discontinued funding for our Sustainable Backyard program, which supported the creation of many of these gardens. Your support ensures that we can continue installing new food forests, provide hands-on educational workshops, and empower more people to create sustainable, water-efficient landscapes in their own communities.

This also ensures that we will continue to have gardens to open for annual tours so they can continue to inspire others! It costs around $7,000 to create one food forest garden from design through installation. Our goal is to raise that amount in connection with the tour.

We invite you to mark your calendars for this transformative experience. The tour will take place on Saturday, April 26. Bring your family and friends, pack your passion for gardening, and get ready to be inspired.

Register here!

Have questions? Feel free to reach out to nicole@sustainablesolano.org

Thank you to Magic Cabinet for sponsoring this year’s tour!

EcoFarm Insight: Reflection, Observation & Irrigation

Feb 26, 2025

By Patrick Murphy, Program Manager

I had the opportunity to attend EcoFarm’s 45th Anniversary conference this year and had a wonderful time. My colleagues and I attended a variety of presentations and participated in a number of wonderful discussions with people from around California who work on similar projects related to urban agriculture, local food, and creating connections in their community.

There were a number of wonderful presentations that affirmed going back to basics like water retention, soil health, building up organic matter and biological activity, as well as taking your time to plan each project.

Again and again I heard from folks working in agriculture, education, farms and gardens that they had the most success when they took their time to reflect and observe before acting. Taking deliberate and well-paced steps to mulch, to build up organic matter in the soil, to increase water infiltration, and to develop rich and biologically active soil were the most impactful things they did. They stressed the importance of avoiding jumping into an idea that sounds good but is untested — the sheer force of nature is too powerful to work against.

Some key recommendations:

  • Take your time when you’re planning, and revisit a site multiple times before beginning work, with and without your plans.
  • Install a flow gauge and Schrader valves (similar to bicycle tire valves) in your irrigation system, and use a pressure gauge to check your system for leaks and issues.
  • Heat stress can make plants more prone to pest issues.

Here is a breakdown of some of the presentations:

Regenerative Landscaper Erik Ohlsen gave a talk about the importance of getting to know a site. He said that to truly understand a location, you should be visiting it in the rain, at night and early morning, and you should always check and recheck your plans with the reality of what is on the ground. Ohlsen also stressed the number of career opportunities which exist in landscape design.

Cameron McDonald from Santa Cruz Resource Conservation District spoke about the importance of monitoring water systems using flow gauges and pressure gauges. McDonald spoke about how farmers (and homeowners) can balance design, operations and maintenance, and irrigation scheduling to maximize yield, conserve resources, minimize nutrient loss, ensure uniform crops, and reduce fuel costs.

The mantra was “You can’t know what you don’t measure” — measuring flow rates is essential, and tools like flow meters for home gardeners, or telemetry systems, data loggers, and remote data collection for large-scale operations provide an enormous amount of information. SRCD has a number of common recommendations they offer to improve efficiency on farms, (1) use pressure regulators (these $13 units have saved Sustainable Solano hours of work), (2) fix leaks, (3) add spaghetti lines to direct the flow of water and (4) opt for oval-shaped hoses to reduce accidental kinks.

McDonald reiterated the standard recommended pressures are 0-30 PSI for drip irrigation and 100 PSI for sprinklers. Proper pressure management is critical for uniform water application; use a hand pressure gauge and Schrader valves to check your systems pressure, use one hand gauge to check the whole system to ensure consistent calibration. Elevation changes also impact pressure — every 2.3 feet elevation changes PSI by 1 PSI (increasing PSI when descending down, decreasing PSI when going uphill). Be mindful of the water hammer effect, a rapid change of pressure caused by quickly turning on/off valves, and look for unexplained pressure loss. Everyone should be flushing their irrigation system more often (once per year at least) and install or use soil moisture sensors for better field or lawn management. By implementing these strategies, farmers and homeowners can optimize irrigation systems for efficiency, cost savings, and irrigation uniformity.

Bill Snyder gave a presentation on a study he and his graduate students conducted on whitefly infestations attacking squash crops. In a 2016-2017 drought, potato whitefly infestation exploded. They had a theory regarding bidirectional stress on cotton plants, where the larva of the whiteflies were born and developed. Cotton plants under extreme heat stress are unable to fight off white fly infections, while populations of bugs and animals which traditionally consume these insects are also decimated by heat stress and overuse of broad spectrum pesticides. Snyder and his team found correlation between these extreme droughts and high volumes of insecticide use (per acre). In a natural experiment using center-irrigated fields and increased mulching practices, the Georgia team feels confident that the combinations of heat stress on plants and insects were a driving cause in the rise of whitefly populations. Learn more about his research here.

Sustainable Solano would like to thank the California Department of Food and Agriculture, Solano County Public Health and CHIP (the Child Health and Improvement Plan) for their support to attend the 45th EcoFarm Conference. Their support allowed us to learn so much about the state of urban agriculture, local food, and what other folks in our state, community and nation are working on. Thank you to the presenters and all the friends we made along the way.

Celebration Gratitude from Sustainable Solano

Sep 30, 2024

By Sustainable Solano

Attendees could view a timeline of SuSol’s 25-year history (Photo credit (all): Luke George)

We would like to extend a warm thank you to everyone who attended our 25th Anniversary celebration! Your presence truly made the evening special, and it was wonderful to see so many familiar faces and meet new friends who share our passion for the mission of our organization.

A special thank you to Assemblymember Lori Wilson, and the representatives for Congressmen Mike Thompson and John Garamendi for attending our event. We are grateful for the state Legislature recognition, Congressional commendation, and recognition from Wanda Williams with the Board of Supervisors. Your support means the world to us and helps us continue our work!

Assemblymember Lori Wilson recognizes SuSol / Attendees enjoy a farm-to-table dinner from Chef Lindsey Chelini

It was fantastic to witness everyone coming together, sharing their insights, and contributing to our vision board. Your ideas and perspectives are invaluable as we shape the future of our programs. Look for a blog in November where we will share some of the insights we received from attendees, how they intersect with our current work and where they guide us to look in our future work.

We’d love for you to stay involved! Whether it’s attending future events or making a donation to keep this work going, your support is crucial in helping us continue our mission. Every little bit counts and makes a difference.

SuSol staff and a Youth Leadership Council alum discuss programs with attendees

Thank you once again for being part of our journey. We’re excited to move forward together, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds!