After a night of heavy rain, I was listening to the radio this morning, and a brief story on APM's Marketplace caught my attention. They mentioned that the Los Angeles Public Works department is considering an ordinance to require developers to eliminate storm water runoff when building new homes and developments. Basically, they'd have to capture all the runoff on-site, rather than letting rain run into storm drains and out into the ocean.

As most Angelenos probably know, storm water runoff is a major source of pollution along our coast. Many beaches must close for days or weeks after a storm because the water is so full of nasty, oily toxins. The idea that the city is working to reduce stormwater runoff through building codes sounds great to me.

I did a little more digging, and came across the website for the Low Impact Development plan. Apparently, this initiative has been around since last summer, but I was completely unaware. Here's a somewhat-recent LA Times article about the proposed ordinance, which, if it's passed by the City Council and the mayor, could go into effect sometime in the next few months. I plan to do a bit more research, and if it still sounds like a good idea, I'll send a letter to my city council member supporting the LID ordinance. If you live in Los Angeles, maybe you'll consider doing the same.

Of course, there are immediate ways we can all reduce storm water pollution, including picking up our dog's poop, not dropping trash (especially evil cigarette butts) in the street and planning our own landscaping so that it traps rainwater rather than letting it run out to the curb. Eric over at Ramshackle Solid has been digging trenches to move the water around his yard. I hope to someday to redirect our runoff as expertly as he has. In the meantime, we're doing our best to grow native plants, build berms around fruit trees and send rainwater down a little trench on the side of our stairs that ends at an orange tree.



Next up, we plan to get a rain barrel. Apparently the city had a pilot rain barrel program last summer, which, unsurprisingly, was extremely popular. No word on whether they're going to expand it. If not, I guess we'll have to make our own.

Last Sunday, I had the pleasure of checking out the Los Angeles County Fair with some friends. (The nice people at the fair actually offered me some complimentary tickets because I am such an big-time blogger. Since I was planning on going already, I happily accepted.) I had never been to the Los Angeles County Fair before, but I had some pretty high expectations--particularly regarding their chicken attractions. It did not disappoint.

When we arrived at the fair, we went straight to the farm exhibits (somewhat weirdly sponsored by McDonald's) and almost immediately encountered some chickens. They had several open pens with a variety of chicken breeds on display. Pictured below is a nice-sized enclosure of young chickens, including some Barred Rocks resting on a log. I love those stripes. I definitely plan to get a Barred Rock when it's time for new chicks. They were in with a few fluffy silkies and some fancy Polish.



In the barn across the way, I noticed this handsome hen peeking through the bars. I really like the mottled black and gold of her feathers. Silkies sure are cute. I hear they're not the greatest layers, though, and tend to go broody. So I don't think I want one for my small flock.



Near the silkie were these big girls. Does anyone know what breed they might be? The chicken breeds weren't posted on their pens, unfortunately. My guess is Buff Orphington. I don't think I've ever seen an Orphington in real life, and I had no idea they were such big girls. They're definitely on the list of breeds I'd like to own, but I feel like we might have to make the coop door bigger if we ever got one.



Despite the somewhat disappointing lack of breed signage, there were some informative plaques about chickens scattered around. This one was very pro-backyard chicken, which I appreciated.



After all the chicken admiring was complete, we turned our attention to the wide variety of goats and sheep at the fair. This caused Dakota and I to briefly indulge our goat-ownership fantasy. How cool would it be to drink milk fresh from our own backyard? (Answer: very cool.) But, even excluding the legal and neighbor obstacles, I don't think we can squeeze a goat on our property. I doubt we have enough space for the goat, much less a nice-sized enclosure and room for all its feed. That said... Look at the cute angora goats! They're so fluffy, and I could knit with their wool.



And while I'm going on about the cuteness of barnyard animals, check out this little pig. I could not get enough of him as he marched around his pen and indulged in several vigorous scratching sessions. I have a friend at work who owned a pig, and I think he found it to be a wonderful pet. Hmmm...



Another great thing about pigs: they race! Our group was very excited about the pig races, and after rushing across the fairgrounds for the 1:30 show, we got our chance to see some. There's kind of a cuteness theme happening in this post, and I apologize for going on, but, seriously, pig races are so cute. If you go to the fair, definitely check them out. I had no idea pigs could run so fast. I think the milk and cookies they got at the finish line were highly motivating.



Just so you don't think we spent all our time in the farm animal section of the fair (although I certainly could have), we did roam the grounds and take in the sites. Predictably, there are lots of carnival rides, silly photo booths and places to buy knick-knacks. Some of the better attractions included a sky ride over the fair, several giant, inflatable slides and an event called "Splash Dogs," where you could watch extremely excited dogs try to jump as far as they could into an above-ground swimming pool. Highly recommend for any dog lovers.

And, of course, there was weird fair food. This years hot item appears to be chocolate-covered bacon. I was more intrigued by the sign below. What, exactly, is "Meat Lover's Ice Cream"? There was no additional information posted, and no one was willing to order some.



Towards the end of our visit, we made it over to the Going Green exhibition--basically a mini-trade show of green vendors. We said hello to the Solatube guy, who informed us that we could write off a percentage of the cost of a Solatube on our taxes. We're considering getting the kind with a light and a fan for our bathroom. There was also a display for a portable graywater system called Enviro Water Boy, which seems like a convenient way to reuse your bath water to water your plants. It would definitely be faster than scooping it up with an empty milk jug, which is what my mom does.

Below is a picture of another Going Green display, which I am calling The Fanciest Rainwater Collection System Ever. I didn't catch the name of this particular product, but essentially it collects rainwater, filters it, stores it in an underground cistern and then pumps it into a very attractive waterfall. There's also a little spigot so you can use the collected rainwater to water your plants. I didn't get a brochure for this since it's obviously hugely out of our price range. But, it looked really cool.



One company at the Going Green exhibition did catch my eye: an organic fruit and vegetable delivery service called Farm Fresh to You. They had a promotion for $10 off a sample box, so Dakota and I are going to try it. I'll post more about the produce and the company once we have a chance to eat the fruit and do a bit of research.

All-in-all, I had a fun day at the Los Angeles County Fair. There was a good balance of animal and plant exhibits alongside bizarro fair culture. The fair runs though next weekend if you want to check it out.

Hello. My name is Green Frieda, and I'm an overwaterer.

It's true. Not only do I water too frequently, but I also water too briefly. Only recently have I come to terms with my over-watering habit and resolved to change.

I think my obsession with watering comes from two sources: (1) the arid Southern California climate means that topsoil dries very quickly (2) I am a nervous and impatient gardener. Instead of giving my garden a deep soak every 5 to 7 days, I would give it a short spray-down every other night. This, as you might imagine, lead to some problems.

Here's one tell-tale sign of my watering problem: a deformed pepper leaf.



Pepper plants--even ones in containers--don't need to be watered very often. If you give them too much water, the leaves get all bumpy and twisty and the plants don't set fruit. Since I stopped overwatering, my pepper plants have made nice, symmetrical leaves and started flowering profusely.

I think my over-watering is also the reason why my corn stalks can sometimes be unstable and my squash often die on the plant before they even bloom. I'm hoping that new, better watering habits will provide me with a bigger crop this summer. According to my research, it should.

The other day, I was talking to my dad about my debilitating overwatering addiction, and he gave me a very helpful tip. As you probably know, many gardening books, including my favorite--Burpee's The Complete Vegetable & Herb Gardener--tell you to water a crop a certain number of inches per week. I wondered aloud to my dad about how I could know when I'd watered my squash an inch, since I'm using a hose with a spray nozzle. And he said, "Use a tuna can."

"What does a tuna can have to do with anything?" You might ask. Well, here's the deal: You place a tuna can in your garden alongside your vegetables. Then, if you need to give your crop an inch of water, you water it until the tuna can is full. Since the side of a tuna can is about an inch high, it's a simple way to measure how much you've watered. Nice, huh? (By the way, my dad attributes his knowledge of this method to Texas gardening expert Jerry Parsons.)



I didn't have an empty tuna can available at the time I needed one, so I used an empty hummus container instead. It worked just as well. If you want to be really precise, you can use a rain gauge or a sprinkler gauge. (But a tuna can or hummus container is free.) It's likely I am not the first person to hear about this tuna can method, but I wanted to pass it on in case it might help someone else.

For the last couple of weeks, I've been pretty good about watering deeply and infrequently, and that's not just because I had a business trip last week. I think I am seeing the results of my restraint in heartier, greener plants. Hopefully, I can keep my addiction in check, although the dry, hot month of August will be a challenge.

The first step is admitting you have a problem.

I was excited to hear on the radio the other day that, in addition to its strict new lawn sprinkler regulations, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power just unveiled a lawn-removal rebate program.

The official title is the Residential Drought Resistant Landscape Incentive Program, and the goal is to encourage Los Angeles residents to remove their lawns in favor of drought-tolerant landscaping, water-permeable hardscaping or mulch. They'll give you a dollar for every square foot of lawn you remove and replace, which is pretty great considering you'll already be saving a bunch on your water bill just by eliminating all that expensive grass-watering.

I really appreciate the fact that the LADWP isn't just penalizing water wasting like leaky sprinklers and driveway washing, but is also incentivizing water conservation when it comes to yards. Xeriscaping is already pretty popular in my neighborhood, but hopefully now that you get a little cash back for doing it, even more people will rip out their grass and put in California natives. The bees will be so happy!

It's too late for me to cash in on the rebate, but if you're thinking about taking out your lawn and want to know more about the LADWP program (which requires pre-approval), go here.

And here are my posts about my xeriscaped front yard:
Water Wise
In Bloom

UPDATE: I've noticed quite a few people coming here using search terms like "LA DWP lawn removal," so I wanted to link to a resource that I think would be really helpful for people who want to get rid of their grass lawns. The Garden Punks blog has a couple of great, step-by-step posts about sheet mulching, and their most recent one is really informative (and well-illustrated). If I'd known about it at the time, I would have definitely used their technique when removing my lawn. So, if you're planning to take out some grass and cash in on the DWP rebate, I recommend you check it out.

Recently, I got a little pamphlet in the mail along with my bill from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. It asks, "How Water Wise Are You?" There's little chart that allows you to compare your water use to the median water consumption of DWP customers.

I was happy to get this chart, because I've been wondering how well we've been conserving water, especially since our recently-planted fruit trees require more deep and frequent watering than most of our other landscaping. When I looked at the chart, I was delighted.

For a lot that's less than 7,499 square feet, the median winter water use, measured in HCF (hundred cubic feet), for a 2-month period is 24. Our water use for the last two months was 6 HCF. That's a quarter of the typical amount. My first reaction was, "Yippie!" My second reaction was, "Dang, how do people using the median amount afford their water bills?" I love it when caring about the environment translates into saving money. So often, it's the other way (i.e. buying organic or fair trade).

Dakota and I discussed why we manage to be so far under the median for water use, when, honestly, I don't feel like we work that hard at saving water. Obviously, part of it is that there are only two of us. But I don't think that can account for all of our water saving. Here are some factors I think help quite a lot:

1) Front-loading washer
Two summers ago, we got a new front-loading washer. It uses less water (and power) than a top loading washer, and less soap. I love it.

2) Low-flow shower head
When I moved into my house, I almost immediately installed a low-flow shower head. It's such an easy way to save water, especially when you're a big fan of hot showers. Gone are the days when a low-flow shower head meant an annoyingly low-pressure bathing experience. These days, water-saving shower heads make your pressure better, not worse. At least, that's what happened at my house. Almost six years later, our Earth Massage Showerhead is still going strong. It makes a big difference for us because Dakota usually takes two showers a day: one to wake up and one to clean off the sawdust after work. Both are vital to his happiness.

3) Toilet policy
In addition to having a low-flow toilet, like most houses in Los Angeles, we tend to not flush after every trip to the bathroom. No need to get into details, but I believe many hippies have signs in their bathroom beginning with the phrase, "If it's yellow, leave it mellow..." We don't have that sign, but we agree with the principle. Treehugger calls it the "Selective Flush." Some people are kind of grossed out by this idea, but it's how I grew up, so it seems completely natural to me.

4) Lawnless living
The single biggest water savings for us, I'm guessing, comes from our lack of a grass lawn. When I moved into the house back in 2003, there was a small lawn in the front, but Dakota and I took it out pretty quickly. In its place, we planted a mixture of California native plants, other low-water-use bushes and cacti. Now that the plants are established, they need very little water to flourish. I honestly can't remember the last time I watered the front yard. It's definitely been at least three months. We have a similar landscaping plan in the back, although obviously the vegetable garden and fruit trees do require watering several times a week. Still, I think our lawnless lot is what keeps our water bill so low.

I love our California native plants, too. Here are a few that have thrived over the years, despite intense dry heat and bad soil.

White sage. Has a very sage-y smell. The leaves are a really pretty pale green.


California fuschia. This one spreads sideways and has bright red flowers, which attract butterflies and hummingbirds.


Needle's buckwheat. This produces little white puffy flowers and grows like crazy. I'm constantly cutting it back. We have two varieties of buckwheat in the yard, the other is Red buckwheat.


I can't remember the name of this one. It blooms yellow, daisy-like flowers and the leaves have a wonderful, herbal smell. It also grows nicely from cuttings. I have two more bushes in the backyard from cuttings from this plant.

Basically, we make almost no sacrifices in order to keep our water use low. We still take showers when we want and have a clothes washer and a dishwasher. I certainly put some back-breaking labor into getting the front yard plants established, but now that they're in, they require almost nothing from me. It's nice to know saving water can be fairly easy. Pretty soon, it'll likely be a requirement for living in Southern California. Maybe once the city is done giving out CFLs they'll move on to low-flow shower heads and cacti.

So Arrowhead now has this "eco-shape" water bottle that is supposedly so much better for the environment because it uses 30% less plastic. When I saw the commercial for this a while back, I was immediately annoyed. I mean, the idea that any bottled water can be considered eco-friendly is absurd. Classic case of greenwashing.

And speaking of the scam of bottled water, here's some more info on that from Food & Water Watch. They are leading a campagin to "Take Back the Tap," by putting out the real truth about bottled water by highlighting:

• the fact that tap water is much more strongly regulated for health and safety than bottled water
• that bottled water pollutes the environment during its production process, its transportation to stores and the empty bottles that end up in landfills
• that it's a big waste of money

If you're interested, you can sign their Take Back the Tap pledge by clicking here.

And if you want to find out more about the water coming out of your tap, check out the National Tap Water Database.

Now here's a photo of my sister's dog enjoying some natural spring water in the San Antonio River.

In June, we finally got a new washer/drier to replace our old, energy-inefficient one. We purchased a front-loading Whirlpool Duet Sport washer, which uses significantly less water and power. It's great.

It's Energy Star rated and uses 168 kWh/year, which is very much on the low side of the clothes washer range. It has a water-level sensor and uses less soap than a regular washer. It also spins our clothes quite dry, so the drier we got runs for WAY less time than our old drier did. I'd say it's about 30 mins compared to 60 mins. Of course, I still want to set up a clothesline in the back yard. That uses 0 energy, after all.

Plus, we applied for a rebate from the city of Los Angeles. Hopefully, any day now, we'll get a check from the Department of Water and Power for $250. LA has really great rebate programs, actually, although I guess I should wait to get my check before I say that. We should get a $50 rebate on the small window air conditioner we bought this summer as well. It has a pretty high EER (Energy Efficiency Rating) of 10.8. The most efficient window a/c until would have an EER of 12. Anything over 10 is considered good.

This new washer/drier purchase was phase 1 of the kitchen remodel, which we will hopefully begin in October. We've been sourcing materials and settling on the design, so we've done most of the prep work. Now we just have to find the money and the time. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures of the whole process, so look for posts on that this fall.

A few weeks ago, I did something at work that I'm kind of psyched about. It was small, but I like to think that every little bit helps.

I have been bringing my own reusable water bottle to work for a while, and, in a meeting last month, the issue of bottled water came up. I jumped at the opportunity to make a few comments about how I am concerned about all the disposable bottles of water we go through at the studio. Then, I offered to get everyone non-disposable, refillable water bottles. To my delight, almost everyone said they were interested.

A couple of days later, I brought in a variety of hard plastic water bottles, and my coworkers picked the ones they wanted. Now, they all use them and refill them throughout the day. It's been several weeks and it seems like everyone is still using them. A couple of my coworkers have even commented on how much they like their reusable bottles. It made me happy that they were all so open to change.

Now, if I can just get everyone at the animation studio to switch. I am considering putting up a flier.

Recently, I heard something on the radio that reinforced a feeling I have daily at work: bottled water is bad. At my work, there is a seemingly endless supply of bottled water and people drink it non-stop. I have no problem with everyone drinking water, but I just wish they would bring a reuseable container to drink it out of. It seems so wasteful to go through 2 or 3 bottles of water a day when you can just refill your container from the big water dispenser anytime. I used to just reuse a disposable bottle for a week or so (and write my name on the cap), but even that seemed dumb. So now I bring in a nice $2 reuseable water bottle I bought. Then, this week I heard a story on the radio that let me know the bottled water issue is worse than I thought.

Apparently, bottled water is the 2nd most popular beverage in the U.S., after soda. This strikes me as somewhat crazy because in most places in this country, tap water is perfectly fine. Where I grew up, in San Antonio, tap water was delicious. Here in LA, it's sometimes a little weird-tasting, but still safe to drink.

What's interesting is the bottled water is not necessarily cleaner or safer than tap water. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, who recently conducted a bottled water study, current bottled water regulations are inadequate to assure consumers of either purity or safety. In fact, the standards for bottled water are lower than those for city tap water. Oh, and despite the fact that bottled water is marketed as safer and more pure than tap, one fourth of it actually IS tap water--although it's beetween 240 and 10,000 times more expensive.

But that's not even the worst part. Bottled water actually hurts the environment far more than it protects human beings. According to the Earth Policy Institute, the manfacturing of the bottles for all the bottled water drunk in the U.S. each year uses as much crude oil as 10,000 cars. And disposal of the PET plastic used for water bottles is an even bigger problem. Burning PET creates chlorine and heavy metals, and if you don't burn them, bottles take 1000 years or more to biodegrade in a landfill. Recycling helps, but it still uses up resources to transport and reprocess the plastic. Basically, those empty bottles are bad news.

So, it seems like it's time to stop being suckered by the marketing of bottled water and get back to drinking plain old tap. OR, there's always a nice water filter on your faucet if you can't stand the taste of LA tap.