Help Wanted! Zero Pay Lots of Good Karma No Experience Required
WEBSITE MAINTENANCE Update website as needed. 15-30 minutes weekly. MARKETING Recruit area businesses to offer benefits to OVGC paying members. 1-2 hours per week, for a couple of months. RECYCLING ENTHUSIAST This at-home project is developing a reuse/recycling resource page for our website. Lots of good material already gathered. No time restraint (but this year would be nice!).
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Our Wish List
If you can donate any of the following items, please email. Thanks! Desks
(particle board free)
Office chair
Laptops
(less than 2 years old)
Portable radio
Poster easel
10'x10' pop-up canopy
Folding tables 4', 6', or 8' Folding chairs
2 drawer file cabinet
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Valley of the Moon Community Garden
(recently joined the OVGC as a pilot project)
To find out how to lease a plot at the Help of Ojai West campus, contact project leader Robin Graham at 640-0569
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Click below to follow the Coalition on Facebook and Twitter!
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We're on the List!
Ojai Community Bank's Charitable Giving list, that is. For every new account opened, the bank gives $25 to a local charity. This program supports the community directly and immediately, allowing bank customers to choose their favorite from a list of nonprofit organizations. Here's a way to support our community bank, our local economy, and the Coalition without spending a dime!
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Board of Directors
Caryn Bosson
Noel Douglas
Dale Hanson
Kerry Miller
Kathy Nolan
Deborah Pendrey
Tyler Suchman
Sabrina Venskus
David White
Ojai Valley Green Coalition
327 East Ojai Avenue
Ojai, CA 93023
(805) 669-8445
ojaivalleygreencoalition.org
This e-newsletter is produced by the Communications & Publicity Committee
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Advancing a green, sustainable, and resilient Ojai Valley
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Canning Class 101
Ever had too much of a good thing when it comes to your garden? We know we have, and it is this time of the year when fruit trees and the garden all produce at once.
Learn how to can and preserve that bounty instead of wasting what you can't use or give away. The OVGC's Culinary Club invites you to canning 101 on July 9, 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Cecil and Sue Baumgartner, who sell their local Thunderbird Farms produce at the Ojai Farmer's Market, will walk you through the entire preserving process. Learn a food preservation technique that allows you to go "sugarless" and still take advantage of the many Ojai bounties and crops in our area. Cecil and Sue aim to make it an enjoyable and rewarding experience in a relaxed and informative atmosphere. Learn the process for "sugarless apricot jam" from picking to that finished jar of jam. Homemade ice tea, bread, jam and cheese will be served and you can take a jar of homemade jam home. Class is only $15 at the door. Reservations are required and limited to 20 participants. Email ojaiculinaryclub@gmail.com or call (805) 669-8445.
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Creek Riparian Habitat Restoration Update and Upcoming Workday 
Ojai Creek in Libbey Park is looking incredible. It's hard to believe just a short 20 months ago the creek was dominated by palms and choking with Himalayan blackberry and Vinca. With Concerned Resources and Environmental Workers (The CREW) staff, OVGC volunteers have cleared tons of vegetation and planted native seeds and seedlings, with several varieties of small trees and willow cuttings.
Member, project manager and biologist, Brian Holly, wrote in our U.S. Fish & Wildlife grant summary:
Early twentieth century Ojai merchants and settlers regularly caught large rainbow trout or steelhead in the annually flowing Ojai creeks as they stopped into the quaint town for supplies. The abundance of natural resources at that time appeared limitless, but this resource rich condition quickly dissipated as population growth and development of infrastructure began to put pressure on the natural ecosystems. Population growth, alongside increasing groundwater extraction, longer periods of drought and the introduction of non-native species have made a significant impact on the local watershed, causing many local creeks to remain dry year-round, pushing the southern steelhead trout as well as several other riparian dependent species to near extinction.
With ample rains this last winter and combined with our work, the Ojai Creek was flowing as it hasn't in many years. There is much work still to do. On Saturday, July 23, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. we need to finish up our mulching along the creek between the old jailhouse and lower tennis courts. We'd love to see more of our members come out and lend a hand and get a tour, too! If you come, please wear closed shoes. Extra wheelbarrows and pitch forks always welcome. Water and snacks will be on hand. Park at the Montgomery St. parking lot and come up the stairs behind the lower tennis court restrooms. Hope to see you there.
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Green Home & Building Tour
is Back for 2011
And we're calling on business owners and green building educators and professionals to help us educate and fundraise. The Green Home & Building Tour and Home Show will be held on Saturday, October 1st!
We are soliciting sponsors to support the tour, and if you have a profession or organization with a focus on green home services, building materials, furnishings, products, and/or education, we invite you to join us to showcase your services or wares. More information and forms can be downloaded at www.ojaivalleygreentour.com.
For tour participants this event will bring you into one commercial and four green-built residential sites where you can examine eco-friendly features. Designers and contractors will be present to answer your questions. Running from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., tickets will be $10.00. No charge to attend the Green Home Show, also October 1st from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Peruse booths (location still in the works) featuring sustainable living services, merchandise and information.
The kick-off reception on Friday, September 31 will be held at the beautiful Beato Atilier building on the Besant Hill School campus from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Save the dates and look for more details in our August and September E-news.
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Welcome New Board Member Kerry Miller
The OVGC is proud to introduce our newest Board Member, Kerry Miller. Kerry will also act as the board liaison to the Built Environment Council.
 As a designer, builder, consultant, project manager, and artist Kerry has worked in the Valley for over 10 years. He spent the previous 20 years in Corrales, New Mexico, where he graduated with a degree in sculpture from the University of New Mexico. As a young man he put that degree to work making structures that reflected his artistic sensitivity and used the natural terrain of the land. He began building with adobe, stone, ICF (insulated concrete forms), standing dead spruce, and many other renewable or environmentally friendly products before many had even heard the word "green." In New Mexico, Kerry also began specializing in energy-efficient products and passive solar energy.
Since his move to Ojai, Kerry has stayed true to his artist's eye and green esthetic. He has added to his expertise using state-of-the-art green products and designs and strives to create functional art out of every project he works on.
Besides being active with the OVGC, Kerry is an original organizing committee member of the October Classic Run, a fundraiser for the Ojai Hospital Foundation. We are very pleased to have him on board with us.
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 One benefit of an OVGC supporting membership is our 'member rewards coupons', Aqua-Flo as a participant offers -
- 10% discount on up to 25 Precision Spray water conserving sprinkler nozzles
- 20% off on single purchase of drip irrigation supplies
- 15% off on single purchase of natural and organic fertilizers and soil conditioners
- 10% off on single purchase of any LED lighting materials
(not applicable with other discounts and promotions Aqua Flo may have)
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