Posts tagged Environmentalism
Meet Your Tablemates: Bonnie & Sylvia

In The Community

Meet Bonnie & Sylvia! Longtime members of The Good Table and Mira Vista! Bonnie and Sylvia share their excitement with us about the Good Table Cafe's opening as well as their gratitude to the El Sobrante Community for being so supportive of the project!

Special thanks to Jacob Day for conducting and editing the video, and to Bonnie and Sylvia for chatting with us!

Join us for our next Work + Fun Day!

When: Saturday, February 25th from 12-3 PM

Where: 5166 Sobrante Ave, El Sobrante 94803

Sat. February 25th will be our Community Work + Fun Day @ 5166 Sobrante Ave, 12- 3p. Wear sturdy shoes and clothing and bring work gloves and favorite gardening tools. And please bring a good quality mask so we can all stay safe from COVID and construction dust.

Help us share the Good word by following us on Facebook and Instagram

Meet Your Tablemates: Mikki Norris

In The Community

Meet Mikki Norris, an activist, former publisher, and author working with Keep El Sobrante Clean and Beautiful. KESCB is a group of local residents, businesses and organizations who share a vision of nature and beauty. Mikki speaks with us about her work in El Sobrante as well as her hopes for the community once The Good Table Cafe opens its doors to the public.

You can learn more about her organization and how to volunteer by visiting their official website at: https://keepelsobrantebeautiful.info

Special thanks to Jacob Day for conducting and editing the video, and Mikki for chatting with us!

Join us for our next Work + Fun Day!

When: Saturday, January 7th from 12-3 PM

Where: 5166 Sobrante Ave, El Sobrante 94803

Sat. January 7th will be our Community Work + Fun Day @ 5166 Sobrante Ave, 12- 3p. Wear sturdy shoes and clothing and bring work gloves and favorite gardening tools. And please bring a good quality mask so we can all stay safe from COVID and construction dust.

Help us share the Good word by following us on Facebook and Instagram

Rain Water Harvesting by Colleen Rodger

Most houses try to divert water from gutters into the street as quickly as possible, which then goes into storm drains and in our area, eventually into the Bay. What if we thought about our watersheds as a water capture system. Your house can be part of an effective water capture system returning thousands of gallons of water to the local environment.

 

Let’s Rethink Rain Barrels:

Typical use of rain barrels is to store rain to be used later.  

House roof area - 1000 sq ft - most single story houses will be twice that.
1” of rain = 625 gallons of water.

Average rain barrel - 50-65 gallons so you could refill one barrel 10 times with 1” of rain. 

A low annual rainfall, 10” = 6500 gallons. Average rainfall, 20” = 13,000

The most efficient way to store thousands of gallons of water is in the ground.
 

My rain barrel method:

Divert gutter downspouts into 65 gal rain barrels. When the rains come, I attach a garden hose to one of the spigots on the barrel and run the end of the hose into the yard, preferably an area with mature shrubs and trees. Especially good if you can heavily mulch the ground. From time to time, I move the end of the hose to different areas. Even if all you can do is move the the end of the hose a short ways from the house and into the ground, it will have plenty of benefit. At the end of the rainy season, I close the spigot on the barrel to store some water for the dry season.  Rain barrels are designed to have a spill over area. In a heavy rain storm, you might get water overflowing the barrel because the hose can't divert it fast enough.  That doesn’t happen often in my experience..
That water not only can soak deeper into the ground and send roots deeper, thereby protecting them from the hot, dry surface in the summer.  An inch of rain falling on the ground only goes about 1” deep into the ground.  With enough water, it will slowly seep deeper into the land, hydrating and nourishing all the living soil organisms which will in turn store more water in your soil.  

Basic permaculture principle regarding water - slow it, spread it, sink it.  Capturing it in rain barrels (slowing) long enough to divert it to the land (spread it) where it can slowly sink.  If enough water is sent back to the land, we could begin to refill our water table.  It will also return to creeks and rivers more slowly and over time so more water stays on the land, supporting a steady habitat for wildlife! Water is life - capture more life for our yards, our communities, our planet. A virtuous cycle!