Los Angeles Beautification Team, May 31

Turf Removal help is available!

Visit The Green Tent this Sunday and talk to the Los Angeles Beutification Team. They can help you upgrade your lawn into a beautiful sustainable garden. 

Let them help you create an environmentally responsible lawn conversion to a watershed that collects stormwater, adds trees for energy conservation, and results in a beautiful climate appropriate planted yard. A California friendly garden will beautify your yard, help conserve water and lower your water bill.

LABT provides a total program of water conservation services:

• Sod Removal
• Climate Appropriate Tree & Plant Pallet List
• Sustainable Landscape Designs
• Grading
• Drip Irrigation Installation
• Mulching
• Rain Gardens to maximize stormwater infiltration.
• Rain Barrels, rain water storage
• Simple rain water infiltration methods

The Los Angeles Beautification Team's mission is to improve the quality of life in Los Angeles by empowering citizens to change their environment for the better. 

Guided by a fundamental belief in the power of community partnership, LABT serves entire communities by planting trees, designing and implementing resource conservation projects, and improving school campuses, neighborhoods and business districts.

Through these projects LABT solicits community participation and provide educational workshops and vocational training to at-risk youth and young adults. Each year they plant more than 2,000 trees, remove 3 million square feet of graffiti, and help to improve our communities for current and future generations.

In the past 20 years, LABT has adopted over 140 public schools, hired 2,500 youth and completed 250 mural walls, transforming campuses and neighborhoods throughout the region. Through this work they have also provided environmental and arts mentoring to more than 35,000 school children, inspiring many of them with a conservation ethic and increased civic pride.

Master Gardeners, May 24

The UCCE/LA County Master Gardeners will be back at The Green Tent on Sunday, May 24 from 9 am to 1 pm with lovely plants and seeds to give you — yes, FREE! 

This month they’re bringing romaine lettuce, black cherry tomatoes (yum), bush beans, baby belle peppers, southwest chili peppers, and with a little luck, mesclun mix (lettuce), spinach and arugula.  

Remember to conserve water in your garden! The best way is drip irrigation, which delivers our precious drought-depleted water directly to the plant’s roots where it belongs. For more guidance visit www.bewaterwise.com.

And if you can’t do drip, hand watering is your next most efficient way to use water. Water the soil, not the leaves. 

Please remember to bring any leftover “six-packs” to the MGs so that next month they can plant up a bunch more seedlings for you to take home, tend and grow.

Teaching Wellness + Green Garden Showcase, May 17

Less is more...save time, conserve resources, help the planet

In these times of stress, both personal and planetary, we often feel overwhelmed by a long list of “shoulds". It may seem as if the fate of the world and the welfare of our families is sitting squarely on our shoulders. What would it look like to balance care and support for your planet, community and family, with an enriched, more relaxing personal life?

Often one small change is all it takes to makes a big difference. Come to the Green Tent this Sunday between 10 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. and get a free 15-minute consultation with Certified Wellness Coach and environmental activist, Jeanne Kuntz. Get tips on how to consolidate tasks, identify and eliminate  what you don’t really need, and simplify your life.  And while you are there, pick up an official, foldable, reusable, washable Mar Vista  shopping bag.

Do More...for Sustainable Gardens

Did you visit gardens during the recent Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase? Did you show your garden or serve as a volunteer? We'd like your feedback! Garden Showcase chair Shelley Wiseman will be at the Green Tent this Sunday from 8:30 - 10:00 or so. Green Committee Co-chair and Garden Showcase veteran Jeanne Kuntz will continue the conversation.

Food Forward, May 10

Sharing Abundance With Those in Need

Learn how you can help provide fresh fruits and veggies to the hungry in your community! Food Forward is a Southern California based non-profit that recovers produce from backyard fruit trees, farmers markets and LA's downtown wholesale market and then donates 100% of what is collected to local hunger relief agencies. 

Since forming in 2009, Food Forward has collected over 9 million pounds of produce, which has helped to feed 100,000 clients a month through 200 diverse distribution partners across LA and Ventura Counties. 

Food Forward hosts 100+ volunteer-powered events per month so, whether you'd like to pick fruit or go to the farmers market with us, there are many opportunities to contribute to our efforts in providing nourishing fruits and veggies food to those most in need.

Food Forward not only battles hunger in Southern California but also works to curb the environmental issue of food waste. Recent studies have shown that 40% of the food in the country never makes it to the table and 20% of what goes into municipal landfills is food. Southern California is an abundant land of agriculture and donating surplus food to the 1.28 million food insecure in LA county is a win-win!

Learn more at www.foodforward.org.