Community Corner
350 Home and Garden Challenge urges Healdsburg to 'stand up and be counted'
Farm to Pantry founder Melita Love urges the Healdsburg community to take action to raise more food and reduce energy and water use.
The Challenge
This year’s 350 Home and Garden Challenge will take place over the weekend of May 14-15, but right now is the time commit to energy saving and gardening acts to help inspire others to do the same.
“We’re asking people to take energy action [this year] as well,” said Healdsburg’s Farm to Pantry founder Melita Love, who got involved with last year’s 350 Garden Challenge through an iGrow workgroup regarding food access.
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“I was drawn in by the desire to show we’re all connected,” says Love. “Farm to Pantry is connected to Slow Food Sonoma County North which is connected to climate change and so on.”
Love uses the concept of a silo as a metaphor to explain how the various organizations and concepts intertwine. “We’re not silos standing alone,” Love thoughtfully ruminated, “we [need to] break down those silos and understand we’re interconnected”
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Love’s mission is “To connect abundance with need, neighbor to neighbor.”
With Daily Acts
The guiding force behind the 350 Home and Garden Challenge is Daily Acts, a 10-year-old sustainability education organization located in Petaluma. According to their website, “Our vision is a healthy, just and reverent culture.”
Daily Act’s Erin Axelrod said she has seen some innovative concepts in action this year. One person has decided to include their clothesline as a garden feature.
Both Axelrod and Love ask gardeners and energy savers to sign up on the website so there is an accounting of the number of actions.
“We want to inspire people to do more,” said Axelrod. “We are still failing on so many levels to achieve a sustainable county.”
But she believes that can be changed. “It’s about proactive, mindful, daily action.”
1000 Actions
The goal of the 350 Home and Garden Challenge this year is to register and execute 1000 actions countywide according to Love.
Love has a request for the Healdsburg community. “Please make a commitment to take an action—to grow more, to use less—register your action to be counted, and have fun!”
In Healdsburg this year, the focus is on educational opportunities to inspire action. They are holding a number of events throughout town. (See end of article for details).
Healdsburg Council Proclamation
On Mon., May 2, the Healdsburg City Council has agendized a proclamation of support of the 350 event. The proclamation reads in part, “…the City Council of the City of Healdsburg commits to actively support the 350 Home and Garden Challenge Weekend and its goal to inspire 1,000 actions to grow food, conserve water, and save energy, and to support 350 Home and Garden activities within the City of Healdsburg and use city communications media to promote the growing, eating and sharing of healthy food and energy and water-efficiency….”
The council’s goal is “to make Sonoma County the healthiest county in the State of California.
Love would like to see a packed house of supporters of the 350 Home and Garden Challenge for the reading of the proclamation on Monday.
The 350 in the name of the challenge represents the number that top climate scientists cite as highest limit of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that will guard against rampant climate change.
The Sonoma Valley has also risen to the 350 Home and Garden Challenge. You can read about their efforts .
Ways you can help
Grow food by transforming lawns into vegetable patches, start a new community garden or volunteer to help at an established garden or add addition food to you garden to donate to the food pantry.
Conserve water by installing drip irrigation, create a rainwater garden or capture and use graywater (it’s legal) and switch to water conserving toilets, shower heads and faucets.
Save energy by unplugging appliances when not in use, perform a home energy audit and weatherize home and business.
To register your action click on the link
Healdsburg events
Sat., May 14:
1557 Healdsburg Ave.
1. Plant the pumpkin patch (ages 3-7) from 9:00 – 11:00am $39 Register here
2. Workshop: Attracting Beneficial Insects (adults) 11:30am – 1:30pm $89 Register here
3. Visit Healdsburg’s newest community garden and sign up for your own plot
Farm to Pantry at the Healdsburg Farmers’ Market
9:00am – 12noon
Learn about gleaning and volunteering. Learn how Farm to Pantry is connecting abundance with need, neighbor to neighbor. Children will receive free seeds and soil for a mini-garden.
Biodynamic Estate Garden Tour at Quivira
10:00 – 11:30am
Tour the 120 raised beds abundant with lush organic produce. Farm manager, Andrew Beedy, tends the gardens with care creating Quivira’s unique, self-sustaining wine estate. Limit 12 participants / To reserve a spot contact Meghan Smith at msmith@quivira.com or call 431-8354
Sun., May 15
Tour DaVero’s Biodynamic Farm
9:30 – 11:00am
Stroll with the creators of DaVero and learn about organic and biodynamic farming, crop diversity and making natural olive oils and wines. Limited to 24 participants / To reserve a spot call 431-8000 Ext. 1
Community Garden Open House
750 Heron Dr.
1:00 – 3:00pm
This half-acre community garden was established in 1981. Residents grow a variety of flowers, vegetables and fruits without chemicals. Two Master Gardeners will present topics on successful vegetable growing. There will be a workshop, “Solar Power in Faction” if the weather cooperates. Solar oven baked cookies, anyone?
