3rd Annual Ojai Valley
Seed and Plant Exchange

David White shows 'new' seed varieties saved by students in the Food for Thought garden program.

Spring is coming and what better time to gather in the beautiful Ojai Valley to share seeds and seedlings! All gardeners and farmers - both current and aspiring - are invited to the 3rd Annual Ojai Valley Seed and Plant Exchange on Saturday, February 22 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Chaparral Auditorium, 414 E. Ojai Ave. in Ojai.

Come share stories and passions for growing food and join in a tradition as old as agriculture itself. The 'seed' is our common cultural heritage, a living natural resource. Seed saving and sharing helps ensure local food security.

Bring any seeds, cuttings, or starts you'd like to share and seed containers (like envelopes out of the recycle bin or saved spice jars), but something to share is not a requirement to join in. Expect the air to be electric with the buzz of conversations and the delight of discovery. Rincon-Vitova Insectaries will be on hand to answer questions about attracting and using beneficial insects in the garden. Along with the free sharing of seeds and starts galore, there will be seeds and plants from local growers for sale.

This year's Seed & Plant Exchange is hosted by the Coalition, Food for Thought Ojai and the Center for Regenerative Agriculture. There is a $5 suggested donation at the door. For further information contact Deborah at (805) 669-8445 or by email.

THANK YOU!

Thanks to all of you who participated in our Annual Appeal. We clocked in at $11,241.00!

By supporting the Ojai Valley Green Coalition you help us continue our many community service events, from January's E-waste Collection to October's Ojai Day Bike Valet, and many in between. We will also continue to campaign for energy and water conservation, solar energy production, the health of our watershed, reduction of light pollution, creek restoration, and thinking locally for food, products and services.

In the words of Ojai City Council member, Severo Lara: "I give to the Ojai Valley Green Coalition (OVGC) because it is important to support an organization that is working to foster healthy, environmentally sustainable practices for the communities in the Ojai Valley. I am a small business owner who has been working to be more environmentally friendly in my practices. It is important to me for the Ojai Valley to be conscious of our impact on our surroundings, and I support the OVGC for what it is doing to promote greener living."

Thank you again for teaming up with us to advance a green, sustainable and resilient Ojai Valley. Upward and onward for 2014!

P.S. If you didn't make the matching challenge window, no problem. Any time is a good time to become a Supporting Member of the Coalition; we need a lot more members to sustain our good work in the community!

Water Wise Landscapes

Edited from a longer article by OVGC member Renee Roth

Casitas Municipal Water District* is sponsoring a "Convert Your Turf" workshop on Saturday, February 22 at the Oak View Park & Resource Center (555 Mahoney Ave.), 9 a.m. to 12 noon. The workshop will be led by Carolina Murillo of Flora Gardens and Renee Roth, rainscape designer, and will cover how to remove turf and what to replace it with for our climate zone.

We are living through a period of historic drought and being asked to conserve water, so let the record show how the Ojai Valley community steps up to meet the challenge. Let's embrace living in a Mediterranean climate with mild winters and months of hot, dry weather, and begin planning and preparing to use less water in our landscapes.

The only water the Ojai Valley gets is what falls from the sky, and it goes to one of three destinations - into the soil, into groundwater aquifers or into Lake Casitas. Thus, we need to take responsibility for how we choose to use our precious rainwater. On average 50-60% of home (drinking) water is used to irrigate outdoor landscape. The good news is that homeowners have many opportunities to use less water by utilizing rainwater or grey water as the first source of irrigation, and installing drip irrigation to reduce the amount of polluted runoff going into our creeks, rivers and ultimately the ocean.

Begin saving water in your landscape:  

• direct rainwater from your roof, driveway and walkways into swales
• remove or reduce turf 
• check your above ground or drip irrigation system for leaks and malfunctions
• use climate appropriate plants 
• plants for our climate zone and water requirements 

Whether you do it yourself or you hire a landscaper, it is important to do it as soon as you can, given our current lack of rainfall. If you start now, you can avoid watering in the heat of summer by having plants well rooted by June.

* Casitas offers free water surveys to all residents and businesses in the Ojai Valley.