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Greetings!
What are you doing to grow your revenues with existing clients? Even in the current industry recession, many professionals have been able to grow their businesses with profitable add-ons and new services.
Successfully adding new things to your offering requires both installation and marketing know-how. In upcoming issues of this newsletter, we'll be introducing key products, educational seminars and promotional ideas to help you grow.
As always, our team members are available to provide advice and support to help you get started. Call us anytime for a personal appointment to discuss opportunities that could benefit your company.
All stores will be closed Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, November 25) and Friday, Saturday, and Sunday after Thanksgiving. We reopen after the holiday weekend Monday, November 29 at 7:30 AM. We appreciate your business and hope you have a wonderful holiday!
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 New Winter Hours Start November 7
Sunday November 7 when the clocks "FALL BACK" by 1 hour, our winter business hours "START":
San Francisco: Monday- Friday 7:30 am-5:30 pm,
Saturday 9:30 am-5 pm, Sunday Closed
Mill Valley: Monday-Friday 7:30 am-5:30 pm,
Saturday 8:30 am-5 pm, Sunday Closed
Richmond: Monday-Friday 7:30 am-5:00 pm,
Saturday 8:30 am-5 pm, Sunday Closed
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Get Discounted Rain Barrels & Tanks with SFPUC Program at Urban Farmer
 | | SFPUC General Manager Ed Harrington launches new program at Lafayette School, October 19 |
While supplies last, San Francisco residents, businesses and schools can purchase 60-gallon rain barrels and larger volume cisterns at steep discounts at the Urban Farmer Store compliments of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission's Wastewater Enterprise.
Who is eligible for this program?
This offer is open to San Francisco residents, businesses and schools only. Participants can purchase up to 11 discounted rain barrels or 660 gallons of cistern storage through this program. Additional barrels and cistern storage space may be purchased at the regular retail price.
Proof of Residency
At time of purchase, residents will need to produce a valid California ID showing a San Francisco address (schools require different documentation). If your ID does not display your current San Francisco address, please be prepared to also produce a recent utility bill.
How much do the barrels and cisterns cost?
Purchase your first barrel for $85 ($125 list) and each add-on second barrel for only $45 - that's more than 50% off the regular retail price of $105!* Cistern discounts range from $160 to $640 depending upon volume. *Sales tax will be calculated on the full value of the sale.
It's much easier divert downspouts and gutters into barrels and tanks BEFORE it actually starts raining.
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Fall is for Landscape Lighting
Start marketing now to capture lighting's best selling season
The start of fall marks the beginning of the best selling season for landscape lighting.
Your customers are still enjoying warm weather, but it starts to get dark much earlier. Outdoor lighting becomes an even more attractive purchase.
Launching efforts to promote lighting during the autumn months also make sense as other areas of your business begin their normal slowdown. Many savvy contractors continue to promote and install landscape lighting all winter long.
 Ask us about assembling a demo kit to help you demonstrate lighting to new clients.
With a simple lighting marketing program including direct-mail to your existing clients, yard signs, magnetic signs on your trucks and other simple tools, you can add more lighting work to your schedule.
Plan ahead and profit from autumn sales opportunities. Let us know how we can help.
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November Workshops: Efficiently manage water and power in the landscape
 Our November workshops are free but space is limited. Please register now using the links below!
Rainwater Harvesting-Get ready for the rain!
Learn how a rainwater harvesting system works and how to get the most out of your system. We'll cover tanks and barrels, first flush diverters, downspout connections, overflow, and discharge options.
Saturday, November 6, 2010, 10am at the San Francisco Store
Saturday, November 13 2010, 10am in the Richmond Store
Outdoor Lighting Essentials: Meet the new LEDs
It's time to switch incandescent and halogen bulbs to LED retrofits. If you're installing a new system, LED fixtures can use smaller wires and transformers,, saving you money from the start. The color of the light is beautiful and they reduce electrical usage by up to 75% and are guaranteed to last for 15 years!
Tuesday November 2, 2010 1-3pm in the Richmond Store Classroom
Wednesday, November 10, 2010, 7pm at the San Francisco Store
Intro to Graywater-L2L-Laundry to Landscape
Classes will resume soon once the SFPUC's design handbook is available. Sign up for a class on our website now and we will contact you for the next class!
Graywater laundry to landscape kits are available now. Kits include diverter and vacuum breaker assembly. Discharge outlets are sold separately.
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FX Drop-In Events November 2, 3, & 4
Food, Freebies & Technical Info from FX!
 Mark your calendar!
To celebrate lighting selling season, FX rep Jeff Calhoun will be available in all stores to show us the newest FX products and answer technical questions about FX's ever-improving product line.
 | Jeff Calhoun of FX Luminaire
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He'll provide snacks and have some great FX promotional items. We'll offer some special pricing on FX products!
Tuesday, November 2, 11am to 1pm at the Richmond Store
Wednesday, November 3, 11am to 1 pm at the Mill Valley Store
Thursday, November 4 from 3pm to 5pm at the San Francisco Store
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Winterizing the Garden
Master Gardener Lunch Talk
 Join Marin Master Gardener and speaker extraordinaire, Leila Sirk, as she discusses the simple steps required for Winterizing your Garden.
Leila will then go beyond the routine and tell you about bulb planting and dividing perennials for spring; two vital seasonal activities to guarantee a healthy and beautiful garden.
This will be a very valuable and enjoyable lunch hour for you.
Date: Wednesday, November. 17 from noon-1pm
Where: Civic Center Branch, Marin County Free Library, 3501 Civic Center Drive, San Rafael
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Warré Beehive Making Workshop
 Where: Richmond Store Classroom
Time: Noon
When: Saturday, November 6, 2010
Simone Dippone will demonstrate the making of two hives in the style of French beekeeper, Emile Warré.
The Warré Hive (also known as the People's Hive) was developed in France by Emile Warré (1876-1951). Warré developed his design after
testing with over 350 hives of various types. It was his goal to find a hive system that was simple, natural, economical, and
bee-friendly.
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Rainwater Harvesting: A Hands-On Workshop
 Presented by Tara Hui from Greywater Action www.greywateraction.org
Learn about San Francisco's water and waste water system. Save water, save money, save our bay and ocean by storing rain water that is free, with simple low-cost rainwater catchment systems, and use it in the dry months.
This workshop will be hands-on. We will install a small linked barrel system at a beautiful community garden called The Greenway.
Date: Saturday November 6, 2010
Time: 10am to 1 pm
Location: Visitacion Valley Greenway Community Garden
Cost: $25 to $50 sliding scale, participants will get a free 45-gal food grade barrel with completion of the class
Click here to sign-up.
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Off-Season Marketing Starts Now
 Smart contractors are identifying sales opportunities and preparing marketing flyers to hand to customers and mail now. They know there's no need to let relationships go dormant over the winter months.
Here are some of the things they're marketing:
- Wired and wireless rain sensors that can be added to virtually any irrigation system.
- New self-adjusting smart controllers that save on water costs throughout the season
- Landscape lighting that creates beautiful nighttime views in the landscape, perfect for cold winter nights
Don't ignore the opportunities. Start marketing off-season products now!
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Upcoming Seminars for 2011: Smart Drainage & Run-Off Management
 Our Winter Pro Drainage Courses will be announced in the December newsletter.
Included will be new products and strategies for landscape drainage including swales, french drains, flo-well leaching systems and rain gardens. All great ways to prevent run-off!
Watch for details.
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Eight Principles of Successful Water Harvesting
By Brad Lancaster
 We now have Brad Lancaster's Rainwater Harvesting Volumes 1 & 2 in stock!
1. Begin with long and thoughtful observation. Use all your senses to see where the water flows and how. What is working, what is not? Build on what works.
2. Start at the top (highpoint) of your watershed and work your way down.
Water travels downhill, so collect water at your high points for more immediate infiltration and easy gravity-fed distribution. Start at the top where there is less volume and velocity of water.
 3. Start small and simple. Work at the human scale so you can build and repair everything. Many small strategies are far more effective than one big one when you are trying to infiltrate water into the soil.
4. Slow, spread, and infiltrate the flow of water. Rather than having water run erosively off the land's surface, encourage it to stick around, "walk" around, and infiltrate into the soil. Slow it, spread it, sink it.
5. Always plan an overflow route, and manage that overflow as a resource. Always have an overflow route for the water in times of extra heavy rains, and where possible, use the overflow as a resource.
6. Maximize living and organic groundcover. Create a living sponge so the harvested water is used to create more resources, while the soil's ability to infiltrate and hold water steadily improves.
7. Maximize beneficial relationships and efficiency by "stacking functions." Get your water harvesting strategies to do more than hold water. Berms can double as high-and-dry raised paths. Plantings can be placed to cool buildings in summer. Vegetation can be selected to provide food.
8. Continually reassess your system: the "feedback loop."
Observe how your work affects the site, beginning again with the first principle. Make any needed changes, using the principles to guide you.
Click to learn more.
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Our Store Locations:
San Francisco:
2833 Vicente Street
San Francisco, CA 94116
Phone: (415) 661-2204
Fax: (415) 661-7826
Marin:
653
East Blithedale
Mill Valley, CA
94941
Phone: (415) 380-3840
Fax: (415) 380-3848
Richmond:
2121 San Joaquin
Street
Richmond, CA
94804
Phone: (510) 524-1604
Fax: (510) 524-9797
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