Audubon Society, July 1

Join us this Sunday, July 1 at the MVCC Green Tent.  Our guest is Los Angeles Audubon Society.

Harlequin Beetle

The Los Angeles Audubon Society has taught local school children about the Ballona Wetlands since 1991. Every year, 2500 students have the opportunity to visit this special place and see the plants and animals that make Ballona their home. 

According to the Drawdown data, Coastal wetland ecosystems are one of the top 100 solutions for reversing Global Warming. Relative to their land area, they sequester huge amounts of carbon in plants aboveground and in roots and soils below. 

Coastal wetlands can store five times as much carbon as tropical forests over the long term, mostly in deep wetland soils!

A project planned by the State of California will bring serious changes to the existing habitat. The Los Angeles Audubon would love to share more information about the future of the wetlands. Stop by the Green Tent this Sunday to learn more about programs that inspires our future conservationists and what you can do to keep Ballona thriving!

Learn also about the outdoor education programs sponsored by the Los Angeles Audubon Society that bring the children of Los Angeles to remnant wild and natural places that are found in the midst of our big city. They work with all age groups, from elementary to high school groups, striving to show and educate field trip participants that nature still exists in our own back yard, and the importance of our local ecosystems. Programs are keyed to Next Generation Science Standards, and support curriculum being taught in the classroom.

Approximately 3500 school children every year, at the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve and Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area, engage in hands-on activities that include using binoculars to view local birds and other wildlife, scientific illustration exercises where they take a close up view of local flowers and invertebrates and record their observations through drawing, and hiking through open spaces. 

In addition, the Audobon Society hosts a monthly Open Wetlands at the Ballona Ecological Reserve in order to reach a broader audience, and allow access to a reserve that is usually closed to the public. Stop by the Green Tent this Sunday to find out how you can participate.

Master Gardeners, June 24

Join us at the Mar Vista Community Council Green Tent as we welcome back our regular 4th Sunday guests, the UCCE LA County Master Gardeners Sunday, June 24, 9 am to 1 p.m. As usual they’re bringing plants they’ve grown for you to give away, along with free seed packets. 

(PS: They’ll be celebrating MG Julie Strnad’s birthday…stop by to say Happy Day to her!)

Here’s what’s coming:

It wouldn’t be summer or fall without sunflowers!  

Basil — it’s still tiny but in a week or two you can transplant it to flavor all your summer dishes and salads.

Dill — an herb with a cross between caraway and licorish-y taste that enhances fish dishes, baked potatoes and any other creative ideas you may have for this flavor profile.

The Pole Beans (green beans you need to support with a trellis, teepee or a stick or two) are coming up nicely.

Keep the kids happy with “Jack Be Little” mini-pumpkins which should be ready in plenty of time for Halloween carving. 

There are 4 inch pots with everyone’s favorite Lacinato (dark tuscan) Kale.

A very few butternut and delicata squashes have peeked their heads up above the soil.

And thanks to Master Gardener Kwaku Annor, there’ll be even more Cherokee Purple tomatoes to give away! 

Don’t forget to share your successes or bring questions about “what happened” to the MGs, who’ll do their best to advise you. 

And PLEASE remember to bring all those excess six packs from your spring plantings, so the MGs have something to put NEXT month’s seedlings into for you!

Swap Society - June 17, 2018

Save The Earth - There is no Fashion on Mars!

Do you love fashion but also have concerns about the impact the fashion industry has on our fragile environment?  If you aren't concerned, here are 3 reasons you should be...

●      The apparel industry is the 4th largest industrial polluter and accounts for 8% of global carbon emissions.

●      The average American sends 70 pounds of clothes to landfills every year. That's 21 billion pounds of post consumer textile waste per year!

●      Less than 20% of what gets donated to charities gets resold.

Click here to learn more... 

"Swap Society is taking swapping to
the next level,: Cristina Lozano,
Style Indigo

SWAPPING CLOTHING - EASY ON THE PLANET, EASY ON YOUR WALLET

Swapping clothes has been around forever. Graduating from simple one-on-one transactions (Hey, Gal Pal, would you like my blue sweater?  I'm kind of over it..) to semi-organized clothing swaps.   Now Swap Society takes clothing swapping and up-cycling to a whole new level.  It serves as a virtual clothing swap for women and kids that gives you equal value for your clothes. SwapSociety members refresh their wardrobes without the guilt that fast fashion perpetuates, with the added reward of saving money by not buying new.  

Seed Library of Los Angeles -SLOLA June 10, 2018

JOY SUN 

Come and chat with Joy Sun, Outreach Chair of SLOLA - Seed Library of Los Angeles - our local organization protecting the diversity of our food supply. 

Why save seeds when you can just go buy them at the nursery? Joy has the answers!  And don't forget to get details about upcoming SLOLA events such as pot lucks and speakers.

JUST LABEL IT!

SLOLA has been on the front lines of preserving heirloom seeds and making sure they remain available to all of us as we move toward a somewhat ambiguous future.  We are still fighting infiltration of GMO's (Genetically Modified Organisms) into our most trusted grocery stores. Whether you are for or against the production of GMOs, you have a right to know if a fruit, vegetable or grain has been genetically modified so you can make informed food choices.