Thinking Globally, Living Locally
Community Seeds
e-Magazine
www.communityseeds. com
Durham
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Chico
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Paradise
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Beyond Winter 2008-2009
TRAVEL FUN Adventures Close to Home
HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE Green Gifts, Gadgets, Local Gifts
GREEN FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Eco Friendly Ideas For the Season TIPS FOR WINTER Cooking, Crafts, and Entertainment GIFTS FROM THE HEART Creating Winter Memories
FREE
MEET LOCAL RECORDING ARTIST and Scientist,
DR. YES
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Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
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Welcome
Community Seeds e-Magazine
Editor-In-Chief DeAnna Holman Contributing Editor Amy Behlke Environmental Advisor/Editor Greg Holman
Owner/Editor-in-Chief, DeAnna Holman (right) Amy Behlke, Contributing Editor (left)
Proof Editor CarrollAnn Davis
Issue 3 Winter 2008-2009
Copyright Community Seeds Publishing 2008. All Right Reserved. May be printed for personal use.
Advertising Kari Casey Karen Shwartz Sarah Parada Entertainment Editor Pete Parada
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ence i c S f o demy a c A A C ning e p O d Gran
Community Seeds Was There! ay D n u F y Famil s ’ d a z A
lon a h t a u Chico D
seed e l p p A Johnny Days t r spo s a P tmas s o i r r h O C a Chico Sierr nd e tique u k o e B e W
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Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
Please send comments, articles, photos, artwork, interview ideas, and photos of your Chico Bag to:
info@communityseeds.com For advertising and general information, visit: www.communityseeds.com
From the Editor
A Note From the Editor
You’re Welcome!
People have been sending us e-mails, thanking us for creating Community Seeds Magazine, and telling us how much they love this “resource.” We are so proud to continue this project and we certainly appreciate the many e-mails, the support, and the confidence you have given to us. It makes me excited to start the next issue! But, first thing’s first. We have created the winter issue with many things in mind. First of all, we know people are always searching for unique gifts, so we put together gift guides for green gifts, local gifts, kids’ gifts, gadget gifts and a guide to alternative giving. We hope you will find these guides useful and fun to read! Next, we have gathered many articles from locals who wanted to share things that are important during the winter months. There are places to go in the area, movies to see, food to cook and stories to tell. There is something in this issue for everyone that will help make your winter more enjoyable. Don’t forget to look at the Community Faces and Winter Fun pages for photos of people you may know. Finally, we have compiled an index of advertisers. You can click on any advertiser and go directly to their ad. From the ad, you can go to the business’ website. You may also want to check out the interactive calendars at: www.thechicoconnection.com, www.theparadiseconnection.com and www.thedurhamconnection.com. You can add your own event to any of these calendars and it is another free resource! This issue has so much content that reminds me of the things I love about winter: The kids’ faces, the smells of holiday cooking, the memories of Christmases long ago, special events, family, and the reminder that giving is such a powerful thing. There are also many articles about having a focus on making small changes in our lives to help the community, our health, and the environment. I am so grateful to the magazine staff, our advertisers, and the community for the overwhelming support. Community Seeds Magazine will continue this project with the mission of promoting social, environmental and community awareness. Remember when viewing the magazine, there are many options on the tool bar (which has been updated) and all back issues are archived. The magazine is available 24/7, so no need to search around; you can download the magazine as a PDF to a computer to save and view without having to be connected to the internet; and any page can be printed at home on recycled paper. The magazine is interactive and links are live to businesses and organizations. Community Seeds Magazine is happy to connect to the community, while learning how to be greener, healthier and more socially aware. As I always say, I want to encourage people to share their stories, informational articles, artwork, photos, music, advice and knowledge with Community Seeds Magazine. Happy holidays and see you in the spring!
DeAnna Holman
Editor-in-Chief
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Contents
70 4 Welcome! 5 Note From the Editor 8 Issue Contributors 63 Winter Quotes 51 Alternative Giving 105 Calendar Links 106 Advertiser’s Index 107 Be in The Spring 108
Issue! Special Thanks to Our Sponsors
WINTER 2008-2009
38
Features 43
Gift Buying Guides
56 64
Pictorial- Winter Fun The Circus Comes to Town
34
Recording Artist and Scientist
Local Gifts, Gadget Gifts and more!
Chico Museum “Presents” Shares His Music With The Northstate
18 The Old Green
Green Memories of the 1940’s
True Life 52
Beautiful Lengths
60
Christmas Memories
Giving Locks From the Heart
A Grandmother’s Memoirs 6
Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
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Departments Easy Being Greener
12 The Green Revolution 10 Where in the World is Chico Bag?
13 15
Crafts
30 Easy Eco-Friendly Crafts Art/Entertainment
Green Links
38 Local Artist
Go Green, Live Rich Book Review
41 Winter Movies
16 Ideal Bite’s Top 10 22 Electric Cars Come to Town
46 Green Gifts Ideas 58 Holiday Tips to Save and Go Green
Out and About
70 A Green Trip to the
California Academy of Sciences
74 Sierra Oro Farm Trail
Shares Her Paintings
Family
48 84 87
Gift Ideas For Kids Kid Cures His Mom’s Fear of Flying Indoor Fun: Martial Arts For Kids
92 94
Home/Food
Community Faces Durham Community Foundation
10
the Heart
76 Small Fruit Orchards 80 Cook’s Corner 82 Pomegranates
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Community
98 Work Training Center Focus On Green Business 96 AYUSA: Exchange 24 Apple Blossom Baby Student Hosting 26 Why Buy New? 100 FACT: Fighting Causes Thrift Shop Review 102 Mothers of Multiples 103 Economical Gifts From For Any Home
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Health
89 90
Preventing Colds or Flu Herbal Remedy Cautions
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Contributors
Contributors This Issue- WINTER 2008-2009 DeAnna Holman Editor-in-Chief, Owner, Publisher, Web Designer, Mother of Three & Wife. DeAnna holds a BS Degree in Gerontology from USC, a California Teaching Credential and Science Supplement From CSU, Chico and an AA Degree in Liberal Studies/Photo Journalism from Grossmont College in San Diego. Amy Behlke Contributing Editor, Writer, Links Coordinator, Mother of Two, Wife. Amy holds a BA Degree in Liberal Studies from CSU Chico, a California Teaching Credential From CSU, Chico, works full time teaching 6th grade and writes grants. Greg Holman Writer, Environmental Advisor, Father of Three, Husband. Greg is a Science Teacher, Writer for EnergySeeds.com, Grant Writer, Workshop Facilitator for the National Energy Education Development Project, who holds a BA and CA Teaching Credential from CSU Chico. Jan Holman Author, Jan Holman, has been a resident of Durham since the mid-1960s. A California State University, Chico graduate, she is a devotee of local history, mother, grandmother and Community Volunteer (4-H, Far West Heritage Association, Durham Women’s Club, Durham Schools, just to name a few). Pete Parada Pete is a professional musician, drum instructor, parent and Chico resident. He attended Musicians Institute in Los Angeles, has recorded many albums and has toured with major recording artists around the world. He is an avid movie fan with vast knowledge of the movie industry. Alex Eaves The founder of STAY VOCAL, a reuse products and information company based near Boston, MA, and now with a second base of operations in Chico. As a former touring merchandiser for rock bands, traveling around the country is a normal part of Alex’s life. Caitlin Schwerin Caitlin is a passionate artist who holds a BA degree in Fine Arts from California State University, Chico. A Bay Area transplant to Chico for the last 14 years, this colorful painter has just settled in Durham and has her studio at home. Kari Casey A greater Sacramento native, relocated to Chico in 2003 to raise her young family, after marrying Chico native Greg Casey. Among her many talents, she is a certified pastry chef & Massage Therapist. Enjoys being mother of two boys, digital photography, relaxing outdoors and all creative projects. Ken Hodge Ken holds a B.S. degree and M.S. degree in Ornamental Horticulture from CSU, Chico. In 1986, after owning a landscape business for ten years, Ken and his wife Shelly started Hodge’s Nursery in Durham. They have raised 4 children and 3 of them still work at the family nursery. Community Seeds e-Magazine
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Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
Contributors
Contributors -Not Pictured
Howard F Holman, III (“Pete”)-Retired Butte College Dean, Almond Farmer, Builder, Father, Grandfather. CarrollAnn Davis- Proof Editor, DeAnna’s mom, pre school teacher, Stampin’ Up Demonstrator, Nevada State PTA Secretary, grandmother. Kristin Finch- Owner and creator of Charli’z baby blankets and products and she is a mom. Danae Dominichi- Writer and Chef Extraordinare, works for Paradise Unified School District at E6. Tara Donnell -Tara lives in Magalia with her husband, 3 year-old son, and various pets. She works part-time outside the home. Jennifer Arbuckle- Recycling and Public Outreach Coordinator Northern Recycling and Waste Services. Richard H. Roth - Director of “cChaos” , a newly formed non-profit organization whose mission is to identify and facilitate adoption of healthy lifestyle patterns by managing public, producer-direct food and art/craft delivery systems, such as Certified Farmers Markets - as public forums and consumer-safe shopping environments - to maximize human health. Marne Larsen -Local, Regional Director for AYUSA, a non profit Global Youth Exchange Organization (Chico Location). Tina Dewey-President (2008-2009) of the Butte County Mothers of Multiples Organization and www.buttecountymoms.com. Mike Holman- A Durham native, Mike graduated with his Doctor of Pharmacy degree in 2003. He has been working as a practicing pharmacist in Salem, Oregon. Sue Barch- Sue is a 61 year old martial artist from Haley’s Martial Arts in Chico, Ca. She currently has a 4th degree black belt in Okinawan Shorin Ryu Shorin Kan and has traveled to Okinawa 5 times to train with her Sensei. Rian Farley -Rian Farley enjoys historical research, getting to know people through writing interesting biographies, and enjoys reading. Karen Huff-The Outreach Administrator/Chief Safety Officer for the Work Training Center in Chico. Darci Crossin- Darci Crossin graduated from Chico State with a B.A. in Child Development and was a preschool teacher in our community for several years before the birth of her daughter Kyra. Soon after she opened Apple Blossom Baby, a new and resale children’s shop with a focus on socially and environmentally responsible products. When she is not at the shop, Darci likes to spend as much time as possible with her family. Patti Dye-Patti Dye is a resident of Paradise, CA. She has a son and she has a 6th grade daughter who attends Evergreen 6 at Paradise Intermediate School. All contributors are named on their corresponding article.
If you plan to send an article for the next issue, please include a short bio at the end , along with your photo and photos to go with your article. Send articles (doc) and photos (jpg) to info@communityseeds.com. For additional guidelines, please go to www.communityseeds.com. w w w.communityseeds.com
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Where In the World is
Chico Bag? The average American uses 300 to 700 plastic bags per year! The popular Chico Bag makes being earth friendly a little easier. Send your photos of your Chico Bag in different locations to info@communityseeds.com! If your photo is published, we will send you a New Chico Bag! How many places can Chico Bag be photographed?
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Oregon
Guess the location of this Chico Bag! The first 3 correct answers get a FREE Chico Bag! e-mail: info@communityseeds.com
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It’s Easy Being Greener
It’s not Easy Being Green
er
The Green Revolution is Coming.
C
DeAnna Holman
ommunity Seeds received a lot of feedback
about our the fall issue’s “It’s Not Easy Being Green.” Many agreed that being green seems to be a new term, but not a new concept. People told us that they, too remember growing up being environmentally friendly, but not realizing it (see the article in this issue, “The Old Green”). Others recalled their parents or grandparents acting conservatively, regardless of economic status. Being green doesn’t appear to be a new concept, but being wasteful or unaware, does. Many fear the “green” revolution will keep them from having the luxuries they are used to. They are resistant to change and sometimes the extra effort it takes to be greener. Fortunately, if everyone made an easy, small change toward a more eco-friendly lifestyle, it would be good for the environment and the pocketbook. As a country, adopting this new (or old) idea can be good for our environmental and economic future.
Author, and former White House Reporter Thomas L. Friedman, feels that people need to realize that going green is the best thing for the earth and the US. In an interview with Reader’s Digest (rd.com), the Pulitzer Prize winner states, “To me, going green is the great challenge- and opportunity- of the 21st century.” Friedman feels that going green should not be a reaction to the global warming theory, but rather a necessity to preserve our resources as the world population grows. Friedman goes on to say, “In our lifetime, the population of the earth will have tripled. The demand for resources, the demand for energy, the demand for goods and services, will be so enormous that having clean power, efficient power systems and smart grids is going to be a huge advantage in the world we’re going into-even if global warming doesn’t exist at all.” 12 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
Friedman’s book, Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why
We Need a Green Revolution-and How It can Renew America (an update of his book The World is Flat), examines the advantages of
going green and how conservation and climate change affect our future and the future of politics. He explains how globalization and a green movement can be a great thing for the future, in spite of any possible climate changes.
I have enjoyed the responses from our readers about: Community Seeds Magazine, articles about being greener, the articles from the community about being green and the articles about being socially and community aware. The response has inspired me to be more informed on these subjects and has helped me on my green journey. All of us on this green path are at a different point, none of which is less important than the other. It is important to create a dialogue in which we can inform, educate and support one another as we each experience a green revolution of our own. If you have green tips or stories you would like to share, please send them to info@communityseeds.com.
Visit our Green Page at www.thechicoconnection.comClick on “Green Living” for local & global links on sustainable living. . Com
It’s Easy Being Greener
ECO LINKS
GreenHotels.com- A site for information on green hotels. Green Hotels are environmentally-friendly properties whose managers are eager to institute programs that save water, save energy and reduce solid waste--while saving money--to help protect the planet. http://www.greenhotels.
CURErecycling.com-CURE Recycling recovers used printer cartridges and cell phones from schools, businesses, non-profit organizations, and government agencies to be recycled for resuse. The site provides recycling support materials you can download right away, and prepaid shipping free of charge. The money raised goes toward fighting pediatric cancer. http://www.curerecycling.com/
com/index.htm.
GlobalStewards.org-A site that offers environmental tips in many areas for sustainable living and information about sustainable solutions for a greener lifestyle.
ChicoEco.org-This site provides an online community that encourages Chico residents and neighbors to share what they’re doing to live more sustainably. http://www.chicoeco.org/
http://www.globalstewards.org/index.htm
Green Power Network-The U.S. Department of Energy’s (GPN) site for information on green power markets. It provides information on green power providers, purchasing green power, consumer protection issues, and green power policies. http://apps3.eere.energy.gov/ greenpower/about/index.shtml
Green Businesses
Interesting Green Websites
These eco-friendly minded links are worth checking out. Click on one now to go directly to the site!
Companies Go Green The Butte County Almond Hull Association (BCAHA) provides an ecofriendly alternative for the disposal of agricultural by-products of almonds. For over 35 years, they have joined together local almond growers to provide top quality almond hulls for livestock feed. They are located at: 2379 Durham Dayton Hwy Durham, CA 95938 Phone: (530) 345-9404 w w w.communityseeds.com
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14 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
It’s Easy Being Greener
Go Green and Live Rich
50 Simple Ways to Save the Earth and Get Rich Trying A Green Book Review By Amy Behlke
In this time of economic crisis, many people want to help the environment, but fear they cannot afford to. There is often a concern that being eco-conscious is more expensive than just doing things “the old way.” A quick and easy read, David Bach’s Go Green, Live Rich is full of information, ideas and suggestions for leading a more eco-friendly life while saving, and maybe even making money at the same time. To get started, Bach helps readers calculate their carbon footprint and “litter factor” in terms of personal impact on the environment. Things that many people don’t even think about on a daily basis, can add up to a serious blow to the planet. Plastic water bottles and wax-lined paper cups used to hold that daily dose of caffeine can add up, and will sit in the landfill forever.
being not only on how to do these things, but how to save or earn money while doing them. Going green in the workplace is often a topic overlooked on a day-to-day basis, but Bach provides easy tips and ideas for making ecofriendly choices in your daily job. Chapters ten and eleven spotlight ways to give and receive in “green” ways. Investment and business ideas are provided, including some interesting links to “green” direct-sales businesses. Many environmentally focused causes are cited, along with information about carbon off-sets and how to become an eco-activist.
The eleven chapters in the book are very quick to read, yet packed with interesting facts and ideas. In chapter 2, “Drive Smart, Finish Rich,” I learned that by driving a car that gets 35 mpg as opposed to a car that gets 20 mpg, you can save $884 per year in fuel costs. Bach, being a financial professional, suggests that if that $884 were invested at 8%, it would earn a Each chapter ends with “Go Green Action return of over $108,000 in 30 years. Now that Steps,” full of great ideas and resources. These is some serious fuel savings!! suggestions are easy to follow and full of links and other sources where further information Becoming more aware of your home’s energy can be found. There is also an amazing and usage, saving water, green shopping strategies well organized index at the back of the book, and recycling are all discussed; with the focus listing all sources cited in the book by chapter. w w w.communityseeds.com
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Go Green, Live Rich, Continued
“In this time of 10 Easy, Fun Changes to Get Your Green On economic uncertainty, Sent to us by Jen Hoyord of Ideal Bite –THANKS Jen! we are all interested Beat SUV-related Guilt. in how to protect 1.Purchase carbon offsets for your auto through services like CarbonFund.com and our investments and NativeEnergy.com. Vintage. increase our income...” 2.It’sShop cheaper to buy used clothes and furniture at second-hand stores and buying vintage is just another form of reusing and recycling (see article on page 28).
I love this section because, with so many great links and resources mentioned in the book, I didn’t have to leaf every page and thumb through endlessly to find sites I wanted to visit after reading the chapters. Every interesting fact and statistic is listed by chapter with a short description of the source as well as a link when applicable. Overall, I found David Bach’s Go Green, Live Rich an enjoyable and helpful book for anyone interested in learning how they can make changes in their lives that will help them tread more lightly on the earth while saving money at the same time. In this time of economic uncertainty, we are all interested in how to protect our investments and increase our income, and Bach’s book delivers with great suggestions for how to do both and help save the planet at the same time. 16 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
3. Compute This. Set computers to enter sleep mode after 5 minutes of idle time. And, shut them down at night – contrary to eco-myth, it’s better for the earth and your computer to shut them off when you head home. 4. Go Veggie. One Day a Week. Pick up a veggie cookbook and try cooking veggie once a week. Meat production is so resource-intensive. If 10,000 people gave up eating steak just once every seven days, it would save enough water to fill 22,719 Olympic-sized swimming pools and the weight of more than 9 humpback whales in fertilizer. 5. Lather, Rinse, But Do Not Repeat. According to many hair stylists, shampooing once every two days is usually plenty, unless maybe you’re a swimmer or mud wrestler. 6. Download Your Music. Buying music online is cheaper, and avoids the waste caused by the production, packaging, and distribution of CDs. 7. Kick the Bottled Water Habit. Americans use 4 million plastic bottles every hour, but only 1 in 4 is recycled. Use home water filters instead. Bottled water isn’t always cleaner, and the production of plastic water bottles is taking an enormous toll on the environment. 8. Cuckoo for Coconut. Edible, drinkable and rubbable! In oil form, the wonder fruit is a luxurious skin moisturizer and when eaten, coconut’s lauric acid helps protect against the flu and heart disease. In addition, it may aid in weight loss since your body doesn’t store coconut oil as fat - instead it’s converted directly to energy. One big tub of this stuff will save you from buying a zillion other plastic bottles of other products. 9. Just Say “No” to Junk Mail. Junk mail is more than just annoying. If everyone in the US was able to reduce their 10.8 pieces of junk mail received each week, we could save nearly 100 million trees each year. 10. Set the Lint Bunnies Free. Cleaning out your dryer’s lint screen after each load is an easy way to save energy and reduce fire hazard.
Phone (530) 873-7649
You need a professional that understands the industry and is positioned to stay ahead of the game. We never stop moving.
HelpMeRhondaM.com
e-mail: info@HelpMeRhondaM.com w w w.communityseeds.com
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It’s Easy Being Greener
The Old Green By Pete Holman
The other night while talking with the family, the conversation came around to the “Green Movement” and how we are to reuse, recycle and generally use less. This got me thinking about when I was growing up in the Chicago area in the early 1940’s. We lived in Willamette, a suburb north of Chicago. My dad worked in down town Chicago and commuted every day on the elevated electric train known as the “North Shore.” This was one of two systems that served the area at the time. Very few people would commute into the city like we would today. Gas was in short supply, as it was needed for the war effort, and so civilian use was controlled by rationing. There were many places where the speed limit was 35 miles per hour in order to conserve fuel. This also
helped with tire wear, as new tires were almost impossible to get. We had one car in the family, a 1940 Oldsmobile station wagon ”woody,” that we kept until the early 1950’s. I can remember my dad would wash the car almost every weekend and would wax it every spring and every fall. In addition, every fall before the winter storms would start, he would “wet sand” and patch all of the wooden parts of the car and put a fresh coat of spar varnish on it. He said that he wanted to do all that he could to keep it in a serviceable and reliable condition. We talk today about recycling. At that time, most of the available resources were going to the war effort so there was a real need to reuse a number of materials that were commonly available. A lot of this was
done by having “drives” of one sort or another, many of them happening through the school. In the early 1940’s we didn’t have aluminum or the poptop cans for food that we have today, but we did have canned food in steel cans. Steel was in short supply for the war effort. I can remember the process that we went through to prepare the cans before turning them in for the war effort. After dinner, we would wash the cans out completely and remove the paper label. They didn’t print on the steel can. Then, my dad would take the can opener and take the bottom of the can out. He would take the top and bottom of the can, place them into the cylinder part of the can, and then he would let me step on it to make the whole thing flat and in one piece (see photos). These would be saved in a bag or basket until the next collection day. He wouldn’t let me use the can opener or handle the open cans because they were sharp and could cut. Another material that was in short supply was aluminum. About the only source for it
18 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
It’s Easy Being Greener
was cooking pots and pans. We were always on the look out for old or broken pots and pans that nobody wanted. When we were lucky enough to find some, we would gather them together and take them down to the local garage. The mechanic would weigh them on a scale like you see at the vegetable stand. On a good day we might get 10 or 15 cents. I remember a good haircut cost 60 cents then. Sometimes at school we would have key drives where we were asked to bring in any old keys that we could find. You had to be careful not to take any of the keys that your family was still using or you would be in real trouble. Each class would collect their keys. The class that collected the most keys would get some kind of reward, such as sitting up front for an assembly. The old keys were then melted down and the brass was used to make cartridges for the war. There were also paper drives on a monthly basis. You might take the bundled papers to some spot to be recycled, or very often they would be picked up at the curb by some group like the Boy Scouts. Most food in those days was not processed to cook or eat and there were no microwaves. Around 1946, my father had a friend who worked for an electronics firm and had one of the first commercial microwave ovens built. It was about the size of a large refrigerator and the cooking area was about 6 inches by 6 inches by 12 inches deep. It probably weighed several hundred pounds. He kept it in his garage. Most food was prepared at home from scratch. This probably lead to simpler meals and a more limited menu, but it also lead to a lot less fancy packaging and therefore a lot less stuff to throw away and go to a landfill. The other thing that happened was that even in the city we all started planting “victory gardens.� Most of us could find an area in the back yard to grow something in the summer and almost all of the vacant lots had something growing too. Usually we had tomatoes, beans, peppers, squash, and some corn. Because it was difficult to get fresh vegetables that were not in season, my mom would w w w.communityseeds.com
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The Old Green
“There were many places where the speed limit was 35 miles per hour in order to conserve fuel.”
the comfort level in a house if you can just get fresh air into it even if there is a minimal change in temperature. A lot of new houses are now installing “whole house fans” in order to take advantage of this and reduce the amount of energy that must be used to aircondition the house.
These same phenomena came into play in your automobile. Many people used what was called 2-55 air-conditioning. That was two windows down at 55 miles per hour. I remember in those days most cars had what was called a vent window Another modern convenience on the forward part of each that we didn’t have then was front door. This window could air conditioning. Most of be turned almost 180 degrees the houses back there had a screened in porch of some kind, and used to direct a flow of air often called a “sleeping porch.” into the car. If you notice now, virtually all new cars have oneIn our case it was directly off piece windows in their front of my folks’ bedroom, so on doors. This makes a much more hot nights, we could move aerodynamic shape for the car out there and take advantage and we don’t need to open of any breeze that came off them for comfort. Most cars of of the lake. We also used fans that era also had a vent that to help to circulate air within would pop up in the cowling the house. It is amazing how right in front of the windshield much difference there is in can as much as she could during the growing season. I can still remember lots of great winter meals that were started with a jar of canned tomatoes from the garden.
and would direct cool, fresh air that would come over the top of the hood directly, down onto the driver and front passenger’s feet. It was controlled by a lever in the cab and fresh air that had not been heated by the engine was directed into the car. As the automobile has evolved, the way we maintain comfort has made these types of vents obsolete. When you take some time to stop and think about some of the things I have mentioned, lessons for the “Green Revolution” may have started sooner than you think. Just take a small step back to look at some of the practices that were part of the normal day to day life, only a few years ago. The reasons we were environmentally conscious may be very different than they are now: a war verses energy and environmental concerns. However, many of the solutions are surprisingly similar.
• • • • • •
www.thewormfarm.net 20 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
Worm Castings Organic Compost Red Worms Special Mixes Various Soil Amendments Delivery Available
530-894-1276
It’s Easy Being Greener
Your community site for local web links. All links are free to add to this site. Bookmark this site; it will be right at your fingertips to look up local restaurants, green living, local events, and more!
www.TheChicoConnection.com
eco-friendly www.globalbasecamps.com
w w w.communityseeds.com
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It’s Easy Being Greener
2 Local Cures for Gas Pains By Greg Holman
Sitting at the pump, I am laughing at myself.
I’m laughing because I find myself happy to be only paying under $3 a gallon for fuel. Yes, this “relief” is only temporary. Eventually gasoline will begin to climb back up to $4, $5, and beyond. Yes, I have read of all the things I can do: carpool, combine errands, bike to work, etc... But what if I could get off of “oil” altogether? Now you can, with two new, local Chico businesses. Both Chico Eco Cars and Chico Electric Cars offer green transportation from electric scooters, up to enclosed electric transportation legal on most local roads. For years I have dreamed of going electric, but my situation commuting from Durham to Paradise is not practical with most electric vehicles, certainly none in my price range. These two new local companies are perfect for people who primarily drive locally, or can use a small electric car as their “second” car. Benefits of going electric are many: Quiet 22 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
operation, little maintenance, the “unusual” and “green” factor, fun, and finally probably the most satisfying - the ability to drive past gas stations - forever! Now there are the naysayers who talk about “dirty” electricity. There are numerous studies that clearly show electric vehicles are around ninety percent more efficient than their distant internal-combustion relatives. In short, electric uses much less carbon-per-mile. First (alphabetically), is Chico Eco Cars. www. chicoecocars.com. Located at 629 Entler Ave, next to the California Harvest Shop, owner Kent Collins has started his business featuring the GEM electric car series. A division of Chrysler, the GEM has been manufactured in Fargo, North Dakota since 1998. Deemed a “NEV” (Neighborhood Electric Vehicle), these 2-6 passenger cars and small trucks are regulated at 25 mph and are permitted on roads with posted speeds of 35mph or less. Range is 25-35 miles
It’s Easy Being Greener
(depending on model, load and hills). At a recent meeting of the Chico Chapter of the Electric Vehicle Association, Ken shared his new store with a large group and offered test drives of cars and electric mopeds. (The mopeds have a range of 4050 miles.) He shared with the group his excitement about this new technology and commitment to offer cars, service and even custom modifications at his shop. For more information, stop by or call (530)591-0000. Equally enthusiastic and excited about the green movement is Matt McBride. On October 18th, I was able to catch up with him at his grand opening of Chico Electric Cars. With a live band playing “Electric Avenue” in the background, Matt said, “Chico is the perfect town for a product like this.” Citing the layout of Chico, he explained how one can easily get to any place in Chico and back with plenty of power to spare. Matt’s vehicles come from Zap, a Santa Rosa based company with manufacturing plants in China. The Zap Xebra sedans and small trucks have a speed up to 40mph with a range of about 25 miles. Classified as motorcycles, these vehicles are permitted on all roads other than freeways. From the back, the four-seater Xebra sedan seems to “float” on its centered front wheel. Chico Electric Cars can be found on the web at www.chicoelectriccars.com, in person at 2961 Hwy 32 #1, or by dialing (530) 894-2987. At the very least, I encourage everyone to stop by both stores to see what is out there in this cutting edge technology. By simply plugging in to your home outlet, you can drive for pennies a mile, help the environment, and grin past each and every gas station on your way.... w w w.communityseeds.com
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FOCUS on Green Business With
Apple Blossom Baby
I taught preschool and infant toddler care for 11 years before opening Apple Blossom Baby. During that time I saw so many wonderful parents working hard to provide the best for their children. I saw how much it took to provide for a little person, both emotionally and financially. We talked about balancing their children’s right to be held with the parents need to cook a meal. I heard how they kept outgrowing everything and how it was so hard to keep up with their growing needs; how perfectly good items had to be gotten rid of to make way for the next phase of life. I saw the bags upon bags of diapers tossed to the trash each day, to await their final fate as a 500 year burden on our already limited resources. When my husband and I became pregnant we decided to do things differently. We would get a good baby carrier and wear our baby. We would buy used items to save money, and use cloth diapers to save the environment. We would buy fewer items that had greater play value and we would shop smart to save our sanity. The problem was that we had to drive all over town and order things online to get everything we wanted, and that was just not shopping smart, never mind what all that time in the car was doing to our sanity. There were a few choices for resale, and some places carried a few natural parenting items, but there was not one place that served all our needs. Eventually, we decided to change that, and Apple Blossom Baby was created. 24 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
By Darci Crossin
From the beginning, we focused on quality resale and affordable new items for families interested in natural parenting. We started with our own personal favorites, the things that made our parenting journey easier, and hand picked new lines based on requests and recommendations. Now two years later, we are a funky little mix of new and resale items. Our goal is to be the one place you can find almost everything you need to help you parent your children in a way that feels right to you. We also try to provide fun little surprises to make the experience more fun. You can come in for one of our 24 cloth diapering options or some resale maternity pants and leave with an organic Johnny Rotten onesie and some preservative free freeze dried blackberries. We carry very unique creations from 17 local crafters, local companies like Moby Wrap and Klean Kanteen, as well as world recognized brands like Plan Toys, Baby Legs, Happy Green Bee and Bebe Au Lait. We carefully screen each brand to ensure that all the people involved in its production are enjoying a fair wage and humane working conditions. We actively seek out companies that fund humanitarian efforts around the world. Locally, we have started a program called Nickels for NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, usually shortened NICU -pronounced “Nickyou”- and also called Newborn Intensive Care Unit), which helps women with infants in the NICU get an emergency pump rental
more affordable. We even offer a gift registry to help make baby showers unique. If you are one of the many families who have helped us become what we are, thank you. If you have not yet stopped in, we’d love to know how we can make your parenting experience even better.
for a short period, allowing them a little time to either get a permanent pump, or to bring their babies home. This gives women with premie’s a real chance to be successful breast feeding mothers. As a preschool teacher I helped children grow. Now, at Apple Blossom, I get to help families grow. It’s wonderful to see a mom recycling the maternity pants she bought from our shop, to get credit towards the baby clothes her new infant needs, knowing she can bring them back for more credit when they are outgrown. I know that every time I teach someone how to wrap a Moby, or stuff a Happy Heiny diaper, I am helping them be the parent they want to be. That is an incredible thing to be able to do, at what is basically a shop. Parenting can be a difficult juggling act, but we try to make it easier and
Apple Blossom Baby is located at 1372 Longfellow Ave, next to the Chico Beauty College, across the street from In Motion Fitness. You can call at 530345-1617, or check out the website at appleblossombaby.com.
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WhyA Chico buyThrift new? Once you bu Shop Review By Alex Eaves
average consumer is working a job until 5, they wouldn’t even have time to start shopping until after 5.
As I strongly believe that reusing is the greenest way to shop, I have been frequenting thrift stores for years. With the U.S. Economy in the state it is, maybe now more people will see the beauty of them too. Luckily, here in Chico, there are many options. In the Chico Yellow Pages, there are 13 listings under “Thrift Store.” For someone who grew up in a town with no thrift stores, this is a large amount, with almost all of them being within a quick bike ride from central Chico. It’s a perfect situation. Unfortunately for me though, I usually end up getting a ton of T-shirts for my projects (STAY VOCAL.com) on my trips, so a bike is out of the question. While there are so many thrift store options in Chico, they all seem to share some common bonds. The first and most frustrating is that they all close so early! I completely understand wanting to close at 5 PM after a long day, but since the
I’d love to see more thrift stores open at 11 or 12 and close around 7 or 8. A perfect example of why this would be good was what I saw on the night before Halloween. Many people were coming into the Salvation Army on East Ave at 5 minutes of 5, but they didn’t have time to shop before the store closed at 5. I simply don’t understand the concept of closing retail doors before students and workers can make it in. Another common bond among most of the thrift stores in Chico (and all over the US for that matter) is that they only accept cash. This certainly helps their cause, as they don’t have to pay fees, but in the plastic age, it can be a bit frustrating. The most important bond that all thrift stores share is the “reuse” factor. By not buying new, you can save money, materials, and the planet. Why buy new? Once you buy it, it’s officially used anyway.
REVIEWS What follows is the list directly from the Yellow Pages of the thrift stores in Chico. Over the past few weeks, I visited all of them.
American Cancer Society (752 Mangrove Ave.) -This was my first time
26 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
uy it, it’s officially used anyway. at this thrift store, probably because I hadn’t noticed it. It’s unfortunately tucked far in the back of a Safeway plaza. It’s a smaller thrift store that focuses on smaller items like house wares and knick knacks, so you won’t find a lot of clothing or furniture here. Their prices were pretty typical for a thrift store. If you’re in the area, it’s worth checking out.
It’s Easy Being Greener
have a fireplace this winter, I might just go there with some coffee and sit down with a book. Clothes were decently priced and they do offer a specific color tag sale each week. My only disappointment was that they only accepted cash and I had to put something back because I didn’t have enough cash on me. In addition to the clothing, there are small electronics, books, and housewares sections.
Arc Thrift Store (2020 Park Ave.) - This is In Vogue Resale (244 Walnut) - Either this one of the bigger thrift stores in Chico and the focus is heavy on clothing. I usually go looking for T-shirts, which tend to be priced higher than the average thrift store, but they do offer 50% off every Sunday, so it balances out nicely. Beyond clothing, there is a decent amount of housewares, electronics, and furniture.
place has shut down or is extremely hidden. The phone number being disconnected doesn’t help the cause.
Park Avenue Antiques (2260 Park Ave.)-
If you’re looking for some quality antiques and willing to pay what they’re worth, this is a great place. However, I don’t consider any antique store to be a thrift store Discovery Shoppe (315 Flume)- This because they are by no means for those of is another thrift store where I had never us who are “thrifty.” been. I think I had driven by it a few times and thought it was more of an arts and Parks Quality Resale (1367 E 9th St) crafts type store, but I’m glad to say that I Like In Vogue Resale, this place must be was wrong. Walking around the store was out of business or out of view. like walking around my mother’s house and picking out things to take home. Pawprints (1348 Longfellow Ave.) There was a nice warm, cozy feel. If they At first, I was very frustrated with this
place, as I missed their very early closing time of 4 PM. Then I kept reading signs in the window and noticed one that stated that all positions are volunteer positions and all money was used to help animals in Chico, so I definitely went back the next day. I found out that all money goes to pay for spaying and neutering pets, for those pet owners who can’t afford it. It also helps fund a large cat farm that is home to cats abandoned in Bidwell Park. Now, as far as the store itself is concerned, there aren’t a lot of clothes or anything larger than a chair, but there is a great variety of smaller items like housewares, videos, books, records, etc.
Quality Thrift Store (1405 Park Ave.) – At this store, there are lots of decently priced clothes, which is their main focus. They even have a FREE bin by the door. Their selection of housewares is pretty large, too. It may not be the most organized of the thrift stores, but there is certainly a lot to find.
28 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
Salvation Army (1054 Broadway) - This is certainly one of the emptiest Salvation Army stores I’ve ever seen. The reason is that they have a “boutique” at 700 Broadway, where they bring the more valuable finds. While it’s good for them, it certainly takes a lot of the fun away from the shopper. They do have a good selection in their “furniture only” room, as well as vast toy, books, and video sections. Their clothing selection is decently sized and, fortunately, organized by color, but items like T-shirts tend to be higher priced than most S.A. locations I have visited.
Salvation Army (1358 East Ave.) – This S.A. location is a bit smaller than the other, but definitely feels fuller, as they have a good amount of furniture and clothing. Once again, the T-shirts are priced higher than normal. They do mark down items to 50% off after they have been there for a while. I do like that the clothing is well organized by color. Their electronics, toys, and housewares sections are decently sized. My only real problem was their hours, as they close at 5. As they’re located in a major Safeway plaza, they are surely missing out on a lot of customers.
Thrift Queen (641 Nord Ave.) – If you like a treasure hunt, this place is for you. There is so much clothing jam packed in this place, it’s like an obstacle course. Not only are the racks overfilled, but the floors are piled up too, but by no means is the clothing junk. There are some great items; you just have to find them. It’s no wonder this place was a hot spot for Halloween. In addition to the clothing, there are small amounts of books, records, and electronics.
Thrift Store (2234 Park Ave.) – This place reminded me of my dad’s old auto repair shop. It’s not that organized and you really never know what you’ll spot where, but that makes it all the more interesting. One of my most random Chico finds was here. I spotted a 6-pack of 1980 Pittsburgh Steelers beer hidden behind some other items. Since I lived in Pittsburgh for a few years, I know plenty of people who would want that. This is a great place to find larger items like furniture and they have a good amount of household items, videos, and tools.
Thrift Store Clearance Outlet (2432 Esplanade) – This is the biggest thrift store in Chico, by far. It’s huge. The prices are fair to begin with and they do half off sales a lot. There are a ton of clothes and, fortunately for your eyes, it’s well organized by color within each department. Other areas like books, movies, music, electronics, and housewares are some of the largest of the thrift stores in Chico. There is a large sorting area in the back and they’re constantly putting new stuff out. To top it off, the staff is always very friendly and helpful.
It’s Easy Being Greener
Easy Eco-Friendly Crafts Text by Amy Behlke
Gingerbread People
Re-use brown paper grocery sacks, and make cute gingerbread folks to decorate your home for the holidays.
Sockie The Snowman With a tube sock, you can make this cute little snowman. Great for decorating or as a gift the kids can make.
New Year’s Eve Party-Poppers
With a toilet paper roll, scraps of gift wrap and ribbon you can make these easy, fun party favors to ring in the New Year!
Heart Shaped Crayons Recycle old, broken crayon pieces and make colorful, usable valentines.
Green Crafts Crafting is a hobby many people enjoy. One simple way to lead a more environmentally friendly lifestyle is by taking all that creative energy and spending some time on a few great “green” crafts.
HOLIDAY
30 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
It’s Easy Being Greener
Grocery Bag Gingerbread Folks A creative way to re-use brown paper grocery sacks, these cute folks can be made to resemble all the members of your family! You’ll need: • • • • • • • •
Used brown paper bags Scissors Gingerbread cookie-cutter Pencil Markers Googly eyes Buttons Ribbon
Instructions:
1. Cut a long strip from a used brown paper bag. 2. Using the cookie-cutter to measure the width, fold the strip accordion style. 3. Trace the gingerbread shape onto the bag using the cookie-cutter and making sure each of the hands is on the fold. 4. Secure the folded bag using paper clips and cut out the gingerbread shape, making sure NOT to cut through the folds on the hands. 5. Open up the gingerbread garland and decorate with recycled buttons, pieces of ribbon and other items.
Pop-Down to the Holidays! This fun craft is a great way for the family to “pop” down the days as the holidays approach. One suggestion: this calendar is so much fun you may want to make one for each member of the family! You’ll need: • • • •
An un-popped piece of used bubble-wrap Scissors Glue dots or double-stick tape Paper, an old calendar or old magazines
Instructions:
1. Cut the bubble wrap into a holiday shape using 24 of the un-popped bubbles: Christmas tree, snowman, Santa, be creative! 2. Cut out the numbers 1-24 from an old magazine or calendar, or cut 24 circles out of blank paper and number them 1-24. 3. Use glue-dots or double-stick tape to adhere the numbers to each bubble. 4. Decorate the numbered dots with pens and enjoy popping a bubble each day until the big holiday arrives! Calendar: http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/season/feature/ff0108-happy-green-holiday and Gingerbread: http://jas.familyfun.go.com/crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=11882
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Green Crafts Continued
Toilet Paper Roll New Year’s Eve Party-Poppers
Save scraps of brightly-colored gift wrap and ribbon to make these easy, fun New Year’s Eve party favors.
Recycled Crayon Valentine’s Day Hearts
Save all those used crayon nubs and broken pieces throughout the year to make these swirly, colorful, and useable Valentine’s. You’ll need:
You’ll need: • • • • • • •
Toilet paper roll tubes Scraps of used gift wrap Ribbon scraps Scissors Craft knife Scotch tape Small favors / candy
Instructions:
1. Using the craft knife, cut a zig-zag pattern in the middle of the toilet paper roll tube, cutting the tube nearly in half, but leaving it attached. Make sure you leave ½ inch or so of the tube in tact. 2. Choose a scrap of gift wrap that is about twice as long as the tube. 3. Use Scotch tape to hold the wrapping paper firmly on the tube. 4. Place the tube in the middle of the wrapping paper and twist one end closed, securing it with ribbon, leaving the other end open. 5. Fill the tube with small treats like candy or favors. 6. Twist the open end closed and tie it with a bit of ribbon. 7. When it’s time to party, twist and pull the popper apart for a burst of festive fun! http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/ca_crafts_projects/article/0,2041,
• A mixture of colored crayon nubs and pieces • Heart-shaped metal or silicone cookie or muffin pans • Scratch paper • Double-sided foam tape • Scissors • Red and pink cardstock or construction paper • Markers
Instructions:
Pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees.
1. Fill each cup of the muffin tin with crayon pieces and bake for about 10-15 minutes until crayons melt. 2. Remove the crayons from molds once they are cool. 3. Rub the crayons on the scratch paper to smooth out the rough edges. 4. Cut the cardstock into hearts or circles. 5. Use the foam tape to adhere the crayons to the center of the colored cardstock shapes. 6. Write cute Valentine’s Day messages on the cardstock like: “You color my world” or “You make my heart melt.” 7. Give away these useful valentines to all your favorite sweeties!
DIY_13721_2273878,00.html
Crafts Green HOLIDAY
32 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=11585
It’s Easy Being Greener
Sockie The Snowman Sent in by Kari Casey
Mismatched socks? Follow these simple instructions to turn your separated socks in to a little holiday splendor! (Photo 1) Materials:
1
2
3
4
1 White Sock 1 Colored, Fuzzy or Patterned Sock 1 Cup of Dried Beans Newspaper 2 Rubber Bands Embellishments such as: twigs or pipe cleaners for arms felt pens, googly eyes or puff paint for the face, buttons, or any other items you might like to add to Sockie. Begin by pouring the cup of beans into the bottom of the white sock. Add small pieces of scrunched up newspaper until you have formed the body, a ball about the size of an orange. Secure with a rubber band at the top of the ball formation. The bean bottom should keep your snowman standing up. (Photo 2) Begin adding pieces of scrunched up newspaper to form the head above the rubber banded section. The new head ball should be smaller than the body ball. Secure with the second rubber band. You can trim the tuft of sock leftover, but leave at least 1 inch for Sockies’ hat to sit on. (Photo 3) To make the Hat: Lay the colored sock flat, cut off a generous toe section. This will fit over the rubber band and tuft of Sockies’ head. (Photo 4) To make the Scarf: Cut the remaining sock section from ankle to toe in two halves. Using the heelless half, open and flatten the sock, make one additional cut; it should resemble a rectangle with a slit ¾ across the middle. Wrap this section of fabric around Sockies neck, and cross in the front. Fringe Edges if desired. (Photo 4) Adorn with twigs or pipe cleaner arms, buttons, felt pen, googly eyes or painted faces. The possibilities are endless. Embrace your creative side and enjoy! (Photo 5)
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ew i v ter
In
Q&A
Weird Science...
Meet Local Scientist and Recording Artist,
Dr. Yes
Learn About His Band, The Dr. Yes Experiment 34 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
Featured Artist
Recently, Community Seeds Magazine visited Café Coda in Chico to watch recording artist, Dr. Yes. I had met Dr. Yes (Iestynpronounced,”Yeston”), a local scientist, through a childhood friend who plays in the band, Gamma Gamma (see article in summer issue). While listening to Dr. Yes’ engaging, funky, ethereal sound, one may wonder about this artist. How in the world did a local scientist come to play music, record albums, and go on tour? How did this unique sound come about? We talked to Dr. Yes and asked him some of these questions. I am always interested in how people are involved in science. What kind of scientist are you? How do you get away to do music?
I work as a Rice Researcher. I’m involved with a station that develops new varieties of rice for the California rice growers. The particular project that I’ve been contracted for is looking for genes involved in milling quality and disease resistance. The job ends in December, so hopefully this music thing goes somewhere. haha. I guess music is my real passion, but it’s hard to do everything you want when you’re working full time.
How would you describe your music?
That’s a tough one. I’m influenced by so many different kinds of music and sounds, it’s hard to pin an accurate description on the music. My old friend and recording partner Brett ,aka “The Treble Switch”, used to call my stuff “Spacey Love Music.” That’s as good as any, seeing how the music I make now may be totally different from previous and future recordings. I think Soul music is always at the root of it though. By that I mean, it stems from somewhere deep inside. I then dress it up in fancy beats, add special effects and it becomes something bizarre and indescribable. w w w.communityseeds.com
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Featured Artist
Your show at Café Coda was hypnotizing and fun to watch! How would you describe your shows to people who have never seen you live?
My current live, solo shows are a mixture of retro soul/R&B keyboard grooviness with hip-hop and electro beat loops, a twist of spacey noise, and a sprinkling of effected vocals. I also have a band “The Soulgazers.” The music is similar, but a bit more rockin’. It features epic guitar playing from Sesar Sanchez(of Red Giant )and Landon Moblad (Floss Anonymous, The Amblers) playing drums. It lies somewhere in the realm of Radiohead meets Barry White.
We have seen you play with the group Gamma Gamma when they are in Chico. Do you play with them anywhere else? How did you all meet?
I’ve played two shows with GAMMA GAMMA at Cafe Coda and I had a show with their related bands Alpha Channel and Airport 81 in San Diego Nov. 26th. “Hexagon Sean” sat in on drums at the Cafe Coda shows impromptu. He had never heard my set before. We used to be in a band in San Diego together 10 years ago called The Jones’. He was, and still is, an amazing drummer.
in high school. In college, I met Brett and we’ve played and recorded music on and off in different projects over the years.
Do you write your own songs?
I write my own songs, if I can take credit for it. Sometimes they just seem to pop out of thin air.
What are your songs usually about?
I don’t tend to focus on lyrics so much. I see my voice more as an instrument. I’m happy when I can form complete sentences that rhyme. Haha. I guess Love, Aliens and Robots seem to be common themes though.
How does your family feel about your music endeavor?
My family has always been very supportive of any endeavor I’ve pursued.
Does your family listen to your music?
They’ve heard it, but it’s not something they listen to all the time. To my mom, it’s that cool music you hear on commercials.
What was the first record you purchased?
To be accurate, it was probably Weird Al’s “Eat It.”
How did the name “Dr. Yes” come about?
It was a nickname my friend Brett used to call What kinds of music do you listen to on me and it stuck. It’s derived from my name your own time? I really love old funk and soul. I never get tired of pronounced (yes-tin). that stuff.
What is your music background?
I started playing trumpet in 5th grade and in the school marching bands. Having that music theory behind me, I taught myself guitar and piano. I formed a rock band with some friends 36 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
Who are your musical influences?
There are a lot but the bands that best sum up what my music is about are: Air, The Beta Band, Otis Redding, Herbie Hancock, Beck,
The Dr. Yes Experiment
The Flaming Lips, Gorillaz, Gnarls Barkley, Pink Floyd, De La Soul.......
Besides Chico, where else can we find you? Do you tour a lot?
I tested the waters over Thanksgiving with a mini-tour. I’ll was in LA at the Silverlake Lounge Nov.25th and in San Diego at The Kensington Club Nov.26th. This was my first tour, if you can call it that.
What do you like most about Chico?
Chico is a great size. It is a very supportive community whatever your interest is: Music, Art....
Is there anything interesting about you that most people don’t know?
Most people actually don’t buy my music at shows. I think it’s a pretty interesting recording and totally different from the live experience.
Since we are an eco-friendly magazine, I have to ask, are there ways you are green? I recycle nearly all of my garbage.
What’s next for you?
I’m hoping to release an EP with The Soulgazers this winter and I’m currently working on a full length solo album feat. These recordings will be a better reflection of the current live material. I will be playing a “Festivus” show Dec. 13th, at Cafe Coda with a bunch of good bands: The Shimmies, Red Giant, and Surrogate.
For more information on Dr. Yes and The Dr. Yes Experiment, visit:
www.myspace.com/docyes
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38 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
Local Artist
Local Artist Paints Her Stories by DeAnna Holman
ast summer, Community L Seeds had a booth at the Patrick Ranch Threshing Bee. In a fortunate twist of events, we ended up with young modern artist, Caitlin Schwerin, neighboring our booth. She was only there one day, but it seemed like we had always known her. She was like that fun cousin or friend whom with, no matter how much time has past since your last visit, you can pick up where you left off as if you had never been apart. She was very enthusiastic about our magazine, our booth and our ideals. She was very supportive of us. Her enthusiasm was part of her character; a free spirit, accepting and positive. She beamed happy energy with her radiant smile and positive attitude. That same energy was reflected in her paintings which were colorful and whimsical. Clearly, she uses her paintings to express herself.
As Caitlin told James Cameron in the fall issue of Artworks Magazine (about painting), “It’s a cheap visit to the shrink….with no time limit. I’m an up and down emotional person.
In my painting and in the stories, I’m communicating with myself and my emotions. My subject matter changes with my moods but whatever the mood, I’m happy in my studio depicting it.” James Cameron states, “That subject matter covers a broad range of life images: pure abstracts, landscapes, figures, trees, flowers, fruit, birds, hearts,
stars and crowns. Trees are one of Caitlin’s favorite subjects. Tall trees, short trees, thin trees, fat trees, smooth trees or gnarly trees- the landscapes seem to take the viewer somewhere familiar. Her barns are the same way -memorable and somehow soothing. The abstracts have a special quality, a style all their own that is at once arresting and restful, with colors ranging from subdued to brilliantly provocative. Caitlin works in acrylic on canvas with an underlay of heavy gesso applied with a palette knife that lends a signature swirled texture to the finish. Paint is applied with brushes and sponges - skies dabbed on in Prussian blue, light blue, and soft yellow hues have a particularly soft, velvety appeal. ‘All my backgrounds are done with a sponge,’ she says, ‘and applying the gesso is just like icing a cake.’ Sketching is minimal. ‘I usually have an idea in mind but w w w.communityseeds.com
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Local Artist
I change it, paint as I go.’ The work is finished with a coat of oil-based gloss varnish, another Schwerin trademark.” Community Seeds really enjoyed that summer day when we met talented, outgoing, fun-loving professional artist, Caitlin Schwerin and we enjoyed her wonderful paintings as much as we enjoyed her. You can view her art at www.caitlinschwerin.com. You may purchase her paintings by contacting her through her website. See the full Artworks Magazine article at: http://artworksmagazine.com/?p=642 .
LeAnn M. Andrews, CPA & Associates 9
Bookkeeping Services
9
Part-time Controller Services
9
QuickBooks Consulting
info@lma-cpa.net www.lma-cpa.net 530.342.7736 40 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
•
Meet Me, the Artist Written by Caitlin Schwerin
My name is Caitlin Schwerin, and I am 37-years-old. I am a transplant from the Bay Area, and I’ve lived 14 wonderful years here in Chico. And by here, I actually need to include Durham, because I am a new resident in this charming town. I started painting my first year in college. I didn’t for a second, consider it more than a hobby. A few years later, I was constructing all my space around this hobby. I held full-time jobs, quit college for 6 years, continued to paint in my spare time, and then something magical happened. On the eve of my 6th year away from college, I held an art show in conjunction with our office Christmas party. I sold half my show… HALF! I could afford to go back to school. So I quit my job, packed my things and came back to Chico. I earned my BA in Fine Art, got a good local job which I held for almost two years, and then, when times were tough, and the company let 45% of their staff go…I decided to just paint. See if I could make it work. It was 4 years on the 15th of November. It worked!! It turns out you can do what you love and get by. About my work: There is a heavy helping of gesso that creates the texture – something I picked up by mistake in 1999 while spilling a quart of it in my Dad’s garage. My medium is acrylic, and my tools are brushes and sponges. I make most of my frames. The images are part photographs of places I’ve been or driven by, and part complete imagination. All of them are emotionally seasoned. Please visit my website: www. caitlinschwerin. com. And welcome to my world.
Entertainment
Film
New Movies of the Season In Theaters This Winter
December 5-Cadillac Records (R) Set in Chicago of the 1950s and 60s, “Cadillac Records” follows the exciting and turbulent lives of some of America’s greatest musical legends, like Muddy Waters and Ella James (played by Beyonce).
December 19The Tale of Despereaux (Not rated) This animated adventure highlights the journey of a brave mouse named Despereaux Tilling as he learns about himself and the world around him.
December 25Marley & Me (Not rated Yet) Starring Owen Wilson & Jennifer Anniston, this heart-warming tale, tells of how a neurotic dog taught his family about what really matters in life.
Winter DVD Releases
January 23Inkheart (PG) Based on the novel by Cornelia Funke, this adventure chronicles a young girl, and her father (Brendan Fraiser), who have the amazing ability to bring any book to life. When an evil villain from one of his tales kidnaps Meggie’s father, Meggie must embark on an adventure to save him.
December 9The Dark Knight Batman continues his war on crime, but the Joker challenges the Dark Knight, driving the hero close to becoming a vigilante.
January 13Swing Vote A fun comedy about an election coming down to one vote that will change everything. February6Coraline (Rating not available), Based on Neil Gaiman’s novel, this is a story of a young girl who discovers a magical door in her new home that transports her to an alternate version of her own life. At first, Coraline thinks this new world is a better version of her life, but she soon realizes that everything is not as it seems. It stars Dakota Fanning and Teri Hatcher.
January 27Open Season 2 Boog and Elliot are back for more funny and crazy adventures! Stay up-to-date at: www.comingsoon.net w w w.communityseeds.com
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Gift Guide
*CHARLI'Z* *CHARLI'Z*
John & Peggy invite you to...
Go Nuts for the Holidays!
*CHAR
TOTALLY UNIQUE AND SUPER CHIC
Give the Gift That Keeps on Giving • almonds • walnuts • pistachios • pecans • dried fruit
Locally grown nuts and specialty gift items
345-1710 629 Entler Ave., #9 (north of Wood Bros. Carpet)
Shop online at
We’ll wrap, pack and ship your “Holiday” gifts! M-F 8am-5pm Sat- 9am-5pm
42 www.california Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009 harvestshop.com
HANDCRAFTED BABY PRODUCTS MADE FROM THE HEART
www.charliz.etsy.com
www.charlizplace.com
Community Seeds
Holiday Gift Guide Gadgets
Your quick guide to great gift ideas. All links are live, so shop now with just a click!
Green Gifts Page
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Kids’ Gifts
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Gift Guide
Local Gifts Everyone Loves a Nut
Local nut shop, Maisie Jane’s, offers many gift bags, baskets and boxes that can be shipped in time for the holidays. You can also visit her Chico shop for this natural finish wooden tray filled with Red Chocolate Jordan and Speckled Mint Almonds. www.aubrey-organics.com $9.50
For the New Mom The Chef In You
Gift boxes like this one from Corning Olive Oil Company in Corning, CA, offer any cook or chef a variety of oils to spice up their cooking. This box has four unique olive oils: Lemon Olive Oil- great for pasta, chicken, fish and salads; Garlic Olive Oil great for pasta, vegetables, meats, fish, breads and pizza.; Orange Olive Oil- delightful for salad dressings or for frying chicken, beef or seafood; and Lime Olive Oil also for salad dressing and frying chicken, beef or seafood. Go to www.corningoliveoil.com for more information. $17.
Belly Fish is a revolutionary new product that gives new mothers an extremely comfortable and private way to nurse their child on the go. Available at Baby’s Boutique or order Belly Fish products at www.belly-fish.com $48.
Not Your Granny’s Galoshes The Nomad Puddles Toile Rain boots, from Lulu’s Fashion Lounge in Chico, will brighten up any rainy day. Black trim, side venting and buckle add to the shiny white and black floral toile rubberized upper. They have a sturdy, black rubber heel and sole and fabric lining.
www.lulus.com. $45.
Words of Whimsy with a Lesson
Local author, Mardell E. Alberico, has written a series of books that are entertaining and have meaningful messages. In Perry the Pack Rat Makes a Friend, Perry spends his time collecting fine objects, hoping to impress someone enough to be his friend. As events unfold, Perry learns that friendship is about who we are, not what we have. For more information, go to: www.wordsofwhimsy.net. $15.95
44 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
Conscientiously Handcrafted
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www.communityseeds.com
Allergy Free Wine
Incredibly Softi!
ed
Chico Se a m
Using reclaimed and recycled precious metals, gemologist and metalsmith, Geralyn of Aicora Gems in Chico, crafts unique and artistic jewelry. Using 14K gold, silver and/or gemstones, Geralyn can construct a one-of-a-kind gift. Visit her store in Chico or go to her website at www.aicoragems.com. LaRocca Vineyards’ award winning wines are certified organic and sulfite free. This is particularly important for individuals who experience adverse reactions to sulfiting agents. Delicious, local, and sulfite free, La Rocca offers many great gift choices. Available most places where wine is sold or order from their website:
Charli’z items make great gifts! They are handcrafted by a mom who loves to sew and create fun & funky baby and child items. Her specialties include Softi blankets, Bib’z and Crayon Tote’z. Charli’z www.laroccavineyards. products can be purchased at Made com. in Chico and Baby’s Boutique. They $14-$50 can also be purchased online at: www.charlizplace.com. Eco in Chico $10-$50 Baby’s Boutique is a unique, high quality consignment shop. For 7 years, Baby’s Boutique has grown to carry reusable items, as well as new and eco-friendly items. They carry such brands as: Eco in Chico, Klean Kanteen, Sigg, Eco Me, and Babywise Organics. Many local mothers sell their crafts in the shop as well. Resources, money, and time can all be saved shopping and recycling with Baby’s Boutique! Located in Chico, CA or visit their website at: www.babysboutiquechico.com.
Community Seeds “I’m a Chico Seed” baby onesies and toddler shirts are on sale now! We are also taking orders for “I’m a Paradise Seed” and “I’m a Durham Seed.”
These shirts are made of soft, organic cotton, are made in the U.S.A. and sell for $14 (shipping is $2).
To order any seed shirt, please e-mail your request.
info@communityseeds.com Please specify quantity and size. Sizes include: 3-6months, 6-12months, 12-18months. 18-24months, 2,4 and 6. Chico Seeds shirts may also be purchased at Baby’s Boutique in Chico! w w w.communityseeds.com
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Gift Guide
Green Gifts
Dry Off
A bath must-have are these soft, absorbent 600 gram organic cotton towels. They come in a variety of colors. Monogramming with 1-3 initials is included for a personal touch. Bath mats and reversible towels are also available at www.westelm.com. $3.99-$19.99
Sunflowers and Ice Cream
Give and Give Again
The reusable greeting card is a great alternative to traditional paper greeting cards. Covered in colorful organic, hand dyed cotton with a banana leaf backing, these beautiful cards are easy to personalize. Simply write on the blank paper insert and the recipient can replace the paper to give again. A portion of each purchase goes to a charitable cause that is revealed inside the card. Available individually or in packs. www.wrapsacks.com. $5.99-$38.95 46 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
Any would-be gardener will love this colorful Terra Fuela Sunflower grower’s kit. It includes seeds for growing a cheerful “Big Smile” and sunflowers in nutrient-packed organic blend compost, made with a certain Vermontmade gourmet ice cream! Grow right in the familiar-looking container! Available at Gardener’s Supply Company. www. gardeners.com . $4.95
Pamper!
Herbal works is with 100% pure therapeutic-grade Australian Eucalyptus essence and plant based ingredients. NO synthetic colors, alcohol, or animal byproducts. Treat you, friends and loved ones to the purest aromatherapy products used by the finest day spas. Available at www.costco.com. $40
Bamboo Baby!
Bamboosa makes these 30” x 30” - 70% organic bamboo / 30% cotton, French terry blankets with embroidery in accent colors. Wrap your baby in the warmth and anti-microbial protection of organic bamboo. This baby blanket is natural and hypoallergenic - only the best for your baby’s health and skin. Made in the U.S.A. Available at www. bamboosa.com and where blankets are sold. $26
Pure Energy
The H-racer is the smallest hydrogen fuel cell car in the world. This car uses a real fuel cell and its own onboard hydrogen storage system. The Hydrogen Station will provide your H-racer with an unlimited supply of clean energy. Just add water to the station’s tank! Fueling is animated by a special blue light display. Available at http://store. horizonfuelcell.com/handhyst. html. $99.99
The Friendly Cloud
Scout is here to teach kids about our home, planet Earth, and how to take iddy biddy steps to care for it. Scout comes with Storybook, Field Guide, organic cotton cinch and an online reward program that recognizes your child’s achievement with a personalized reward certificate once the field guide is complete. Ages 3 and up. Available at Baby’s Boutique in Chico and at www.progressivekid. com. $40
c
Consider these greener alternatives to traditional gift wrap: • Use newspapers or comic book pages to wrap gifts. Newspaper with red ribbon looks great. • Recycle old maps, sheet music, or wallpaper scraps. • If you buy paper, choose wrap made from recycled paper. • Use hemp, raffia, or twine instead of plastic or metallic ribbons and bows. • Cut gift tags from last year’s Christmas cards. • Decorate your gifts with things you find in nature, like pine cones and flowers. • Wrap a gift in a reusable shopping bag, like a Chico Bag (see our “Where in the World is Chico Bag” layout) or a towel that can be part of the gift. See our article on green holiday tips for more great ideas. • One of our favorite wrapping alternatives is the Wrapsack. Wrapsacks are reusable, fabric gift bags whose journey you can track online. They come in all sizes and you can get packs of 6 or more to save money. Go to www. wrapsacks.com for more information. $3.99-$80
Can’t Put Them Down
The Tavern Puzzle Collection consists of handcrafted brain teasers designed to challenge and entertain. The puzzles are reproductions of iron puzzles traditionally forged by blacksmiths to amuse their friends at country taverns and inns. Improve cognitive functions and have fun- they’re addicting! Children and adults will find them challenging. Made in the U.S.A. from 100% Handcrafted Recycled Steel. Available at www.greenfeet.com. $17.95 w w w.communityseeds.com
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Gift Guide
Just For Kids
Cards With Flash
These greeting cards have flash drives for children featuring characters from DreamWorks Madagascar: Escape 2. The flash drives are in the shape of characters from the film and are contained within the greeting card. They hold 3 interactive games, music, a dancing desktop widget, screensavers and 1 GB of extra storage space. Available Walmart stores in the greeting card department. $19.97
Mission: Costa Rica
Explore Costa Rica with the Hairyeared Dwarf Lemur. Discover the fascinating and beautiful land and water of Costa Rica and help protect its strange and wonderful animals. Adventure, colorful illustrations, and challenging strategy, make Xeko a favorite with kids ages 8 and up. www.taraluna.com $30
Green Tea
Kids can brew up some tea while doing something good for the earth. The Green Toys tea set is made from recycled milk jugs. They also make a sand set, a cooking set and a gardening set. Available at Toys R’Us, Bird in Hand in Chico, Greenfeet.com and other local retailers listed at www.greentoys.com. $27
Organic Veggies, YUM! Veggie Toys are fun and handson, encouraging children to develop a positive attitude towards vegetables. No toxins. Safe for the little one to chew on. Organic and Fair Trade. As seen in Parents Fit Pregnancy magazines. Available at www.taraluna.com, Amazon.com and Baby’s Boutique. $28
Here Come the 123!
They Might Be Giants returns with its 2nd children’s album, Here Come The 123!, featuring 24 brand new songs, 24 videos, and the group that sings many of the songs in shows for Playhouse Disney. This CD/DVD will make kids sing and dance. Available at retail stores, Amazon.com and www.disneyshopping.go.com. $18.99 48 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
Gadgets
If You Are Looking For Fun Gift Ideas, These Products Will Delight Any Gadget Lover!
Gift Guide
Solio
The Solio stores power from the sun; freeing you to recharge your mobile phone, iPod and other handheld devices anywhere, anytime! www.detourgearzone.com/ sounch.html; $109.95.
Clip Flash Drive
USB Batteries
Prevent batteries from ending up in landfills and still get simple, reusable energy with these AA rechargeables from Moixa Energy. These USBCells recharge straight from your computer’s USB port. www.usbcell.com/; $17-160.
Imation’s data storage device is portable and durable. A clip attaches the drive easily to backpacks, shoulder bags or belt loops so that the drive is ready to go anywhere it’s needed. www.imation.
com or Office Depot; $30-80.
Bamboo Fun
The Jimi Wallet
The Jimi™ wallet is compact, water resistant and colorful. It is great for travel, the outdoors or sports. It is manufactured in the US from 100% recycled/ recyclable materials. www.thejimi.com; $14.95.
Use the Bamboo Fun with your computer to edit photos, paint, draw, write and personalize your emails with your signature. The product includes a battery free pen and mouse. www.direct.wacom.com/stores/5/ Bamboo_Fun_C84.cfm; $99-199.
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Christine Quick * Spa Girl Parties Independent Spa Manager www.myspagirlparties.com/cquick Shipping Available! Deliciously Healthy Skin Care 530-701-5825
Products you Love, Pampering you Deserve, Time you Need!
Products you Love, Pampering you Deserve, Time you Need!
Gift Guide
* Spa Parties * Organic * Bridal Showers * Natural * * Pampering * Baby Showers * Healthy * Birthdays *
50 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
HODGE’S N U R S &E GR Y ifts COUPON
Buy 2 fruit trees and get one FREE bag of planting mix. Offer is good for Bare root or Potted Fruit trees. 160 varieties to choose from! Not good with any other offer. Offer expires 6-30-2009
Hodge’s Nursery & Gifts 9681 Midway in Durham 894-6598 Mon.-Sat. 8:30am-5pm
Alternative Giving
Giving From the Heart
Another Way to Give
According to Wikapedia: “Alternative giving is a form of gift giving in which the giver makes a donation to a charitable organization in the recipient’s name, rather than giving an item. The idea of giving something to one person by paying another was invented by Benjamin Franklin as a ‘trick [...] for doing a deal of good with a little money’, which came to be known as ‘Pay it forward.’” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_giving. There are many non-traditional ways to give during the holidays. Giving of time, a homemade gift, and giving to charities is one way to show the giving spirit. It is a perfect opportunity to show your children that giving can mean more than material things.
www.charitynavigator.org
Charity Navigator is a site that works to ensure a more efficient and responsive philanthropic marketplace by evaluating the financial health of over 5,300 of America’s largest charities. It evaluates each organization to help people give to charity with confidence. At the same time, they help charities by encouraging truly effective organizations.
Any Soldier has a website that coordinates donations to soldiers. They list what soldiers need and they can help you get it to them. You can choose which branch of the military as well as areas of concern.
Alternative Gifts International is a non-profit organization through which you can donate money to a charity or cause in another’s name. They offer a catalog of charities from which to chose. You select a gift card for the gift recipient and they will mail the card for you if you wish. They send you a receipt indicating any tax deductible portions.
Global Giving connects donors with the groups to which they wish to donate. You can choose any area of giving such as animals, environment, disaster relief, education, etc. They will give you a list for each category and connect you to the organization so that you can complete you tax deductible donation. www.globalgiving.com
Many retailers, such as Target, Gap and Hallmark sell items that raise money for and awareness of, specific causes. w w w.communityseeds.com
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Giving From the Heart
Alternative Giving
Gift giving can come from the heart and from the head. Locals showed that by donating their hair, they could help those with cancer.
BEAUTIFUL LENGTHS A Hairy Tale with a Happy Ending By Amy Behlke
Photographs by Tracy Lynn Photography
Long, straight hair has become my “mane” look these days. Sometimes when I’m running late I wear it in wild, unruly curls, but usually my hair is long and straight or up and out of the way. I have never had my hair this long, and to be honest, I can’t stand it. There is a reason I have not kept up with my hair. Having two sons under the age of five does not lend well to making, or keeping appointments to have my hair done. Finding time to make it to the beauty salon is something I have had to give up since becoming a mom. After teaching all week, as well as keeping up the house (as best I can) and caring for the boys, the hair salon is not a place I visit these days. My last haircut was in June at one of those “quickie” places in the mall. The girl took her time with my haircut and my four-year-old son chattered non-stop to the girl who was attempting to sell beauty products to mallgoers in front of the salon. Twice during the haircut I had to ask the stylist to excuse me while I took him to the bathroom, half-cut hair straggling in my eyes. The haircut I had before that took place on a cold February day when school had been canceled due to a snow day. I found time on that unexpected day off to pop in for a quick trim before running in to the grocery store. The boys were pretty good that day, playing quietly in the corner of the outdated quickcuts place, and the stylist was much faster 52 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
this time. I walked out with the same speedy and easy haircut I have had pretty much since my boys were born- long, straight and one length. I am obviously not attached to these long locks of mine. I have no emotional connection to my long hair; it is just hair after all. Although I would love to have some cute-yeteasy updated style, I just can’t justify the time it takes to get and maintain a new “do.” I am, on the other hand, very attached to my family, and something I experienced with my mom recently inspired me to find time to get that haircut I’ve needed so badly and help someone else at the same time. Last year, my mom was being treated for uterine cancer and she had to undergo a lymphnodectomy at UC Davis Med Center. During her recovery, I stayed with her in the hospital for several days as she regained her strength. My mom’s three sleepless nights filled with nausea and discomfort seemed nothing compared to what her roommate was going through. The woman in the bed next to my mom had recently moved to the United States from India. She spoke no English and talked frequently on the phone in her native language. I imagined she was updating relatives and loved ones living somewhere far away on her condition. She had been undergoing chemotherapy for the past five weeks, and she’d been hospitalized for
Gift Guide
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Beautiful Lengths Continued
three of those. Several times a day nurses would bring bags full of a vile-looking black concoction to hook up to her I.V. line. Her days and nights were spent pacing restlessly or getting help from the nurses after one of her bouts of vomiting. Her granddaughter, one of her only family members in this country, visited several times and did what she could to provide comfort and distraction. She would help her ailing grandmother change into clean clothing, talk to her, and brush what remained of her long black hair. Being immersed in this world of illness for several days with my mother, who was recovering from surgery, and her roommate, frail and weak from her treatments, was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. I can’t help but think, that was just one room on one floor in one hospital. It is impossible to fathom how many other women in our country are suffering similar horrors at the hand of cancer and related treatments. Even after the women, who are lucky enough
54 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
to be released from the hospitals, return to their homes, the effects of chemotherapy and other similar treatments linger. While the side-effects are numerous, over 60% of women regard hair-loss as the single worst side-effect of cancer treatment. To these women who are suffering in so many ways, their hair is a part of who they are, a way to achieve some sort of normalcy in a time of chaos in their bodies and lives. The least I can do is to give them something that doesn’t matter to me at all! Soon after this experience, I saw Hilary Swank cut off 9-inches of her hair on Oprah to be used to create a real-hair wig. Suddenly, I knew what I wanted to do. As a 6th grade teacher, I have about a hundred students each year. What fun, I thought, to include my students in this process of donating my hair to be used in a wig! In early September, I told my students the plan: they would be earning tickets for good citizenship and academic achievements and in November, I would hold a drawing. One
Giving From the Heart
lucky student would have to honor of cutting off their teacher’s hair in front of the whole school. My friends thought the idea was nuts, other teachers raised their eyebrows and some said, “Whatever works…” My students went crazy! Never have I seen such motivation to turn work in on time or display positive behavior! Something else unexpected, but exciting, started to happen after I announced the idea for what my students were now calling “Behlke’s Big Haircut.” Just a week after I announced I’d be donating my hair, one student, looking fresh and cute in a new bob, brought me a Ziploc baggie containing her ponytail. Some of my other students started asking if they could be involved by donating their hair to the cause with me as well! I was thrilled when they started asking me this, because it takes six ponytails to make one real-hair wig. My hair, being as thick as it is, actually provided two good-sized ponytails. Now, instead of donating just my hair I thought, we might be able to come up with enough ponytails to actually complete one wig or more! On November 14, two months after I started handing out tickets, the big raffle was held. Students waited in eager anticipation as the lucky names were drawn and sixth graders Tatum Hazleton and Tyler Bautista were handed the scissors with which they each cut off a ten-inch ponytail. Danae Domenichini,
another staff member at our school, got in on the fun and drew two more students, Aimee Ban and Taylore Flores, to cut 14 inch ponytails off of her hair. Community members Dawn Velliquette, stylist and owner of “Styles by Dawn” in Paradise, and Tracy Cahn, photographer and owner of Tracy Lynn Photography, joined us to help out with the donation. Tracy snapped photos documenting the big haircuts while Dawn helped measure and make sure the hair was cut properly for donation purposes. With a few community members and the whole school watching, we got a whole new look, and a new outlook on what a simple haircut could mean to someone else as well. When the afternoon was over, we’d collected 5 ponytails for a total of 58 inches of hair. This should be close enough to make a wig for a woman or child suffering from hair loss as a result of cancer treatments. In the end, I got my fresh, new haircut, my students were rewarded for their good behavior with a fun afternoon, and my students were inspired to join me in doing something positive. As a matter of fact, a few girls are working on growing their hair out so they can cut it off and donate it before the school year ends! This whole experience was so fun and rewarding that, while I love my brand new haircut, I’m already wondering how long it will take me to grow my hair back out so I can donate another ten inches!
For information on hair donations, please go to www.beautifullengths.com w w w.communityseeds.com
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WINTER
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FUN
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Green For the Holidays
Holiday Tips: Saving Green by Going Green By Jennifer Arbuckle
If it is a typical holiday season in California, we will throw over 8 billion bottles and cans in the trash instead of the recycling bin. In a time of economic concern, it behooves one to acknowledge that taking the time to consider the environment, in the forms of reducing, reusing and recycling, can significantly reduce the weary spender’s costs. So before all the presents have been appropriately ripped open and, depending on the gift, have either been gouged open, passed around or discreetly kept in the box for the stealthy return, please read the following facts and tips to help ease the holiday strain on your pocket book and on the environment.
Recycling Facts
• An average California household throws away over 34 pounds of plastic water and soda bottles each year. • Every 90 days a recycled aluminum can makes its way back on the shelf as something useful. • 80-100 years - That’s the lifespan of an aluminum can that gets tossed into the trash instead of a recycling bin. • 700 years - That’s how long a trashed plastic bottle will sit in a landfill taking up space, refusing to degrade. • 1 Million Years - Put a glass bottle in a landfill and that’s how long it’ll sit there doing nothing. Recycle it and it can live forever.
58 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
Green For the Holidays
Products Made from Recycled Bottles and Cans Plastic - Recycled material products made from Plastic Bottles: • T-shirts: Fourteen 20 oz. plastic bottles yield enough fiber for an extra large T-shirt. • Carpet: It takes 14 20 oz. plastic bottles to make one square foot of carpet. • Fleece Sweater: It takes 63 20 oz. plastic bottles to make a sweater. • Jacket Fiberfill: Fourteen 20 oz. plastic bottles yield enough fiberfill for a ski jacket. • Sleeping Bag Fiberfill: It takes 85 20 oz. plastic bottles to make enough fiberfill for a sleeping bag. Glass - Recycled material products made from Glass Bottles: • Glassware • New glass containers • Decorative home decor • Fiberglass Insulation • Tile Aluminum - Recycled material products made from Aluminum Cans: • Picture frames • Decorative home decor: bowls, vases, etc. • Baseball bats
No-Waste Gift-Giving Ideas
• Not sure what to get someone? How about a gift certificate? That way, you know the gift will be kept. • Make gifts. Everyone appreciates a home-cooked meal or baked goodies. • Consider nonmaterial gifts. Tickets to a sporting event, movie, play, or concert are a real treat. Make a charitable donation in someone’s name. • When you go shopping, bring your own reusable bags. • Think durable! Consider how long an item will last before you make a purchase. Often, a cheaper item will wear out long before its more durable equivalent. • Always remember to look for items made with recycled content.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
No-Waste Gift-Wrapping Ideas
Wrap the gift in a drawstring bag and use an inexpensive luggage tag for the gift tag. Decorate oversized gifts with just a bow that can be used again. Put toy animals in a cowboy hat and wrap a cowboy scarf around it. Use a jewelry box for some flea market ‘jewels.’ Use a knit hat to wrap a small gift. Close the hat with a barrette or a decorative hat pin. Games or toys for a child can go in a new backpack or designed pillow case. For a person who is handy, wrap a gift in a tool box. Put blouses and other gifts in decorative hat boxes and tie with a hair ribbon. For the sewing enthusiast, wrap a gift in a fabric remnant and tie it with a piece of lace or ribbon. Any kitchen gift can be wrapped in a colorful dish towel. Kitchen utensils can pop out of an oven mitt. Place home-baked cookies in a reusable tin box, a kitchen container, or a decorated oatmeal box. Use a colorful tablecloth to wrap dishes or dining room gifts. For a reader, wrap a book in a reusable canvas shopping sack. Wrap tools for a gardener in the pocket of an apron, planter, or bucket. Hang earrings, bracelets, or necklaces right on the Christmas tree, or put them inside or around an open ornament. • Search the flea market, garage sales, and thrift stores for interesting old boxes that can be used as decorative packages. • Search the attic for old family photos and mementos and give them to your favorite relative, wrapped in Grandma’s old hat and a lace curtain. w w w.communityseeds.com
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Christmas Traditions
In Memory My grandmother, who I was very close to and who passed away a few years ago, was an amazing author. I have collections of her writing and poetry on my computer. I was looking through some of her writing and came across this story about Christmas traditions from when she was growing up. It is set in the bay area and is about her memories of traveling to “The City” during the holidays on auto ferry before the Golden Gate Bridge was built. It is very nostalgic. I thought it would be nice for Community Seeds readers to get the holiday feel of the past. My grandma was the center of our family and she loved the holidays. Reading this made me miss her even more. Amy Behlke
Christmas Traditions By: Dorothy Clark
The wondrous traditions of Christmas; they slip through my memory like phantoms drifting misty fingers of loveliness as they go. My mind reaches out for them, for the joy and the love they carry, for the elusiveness of the past and the promise of the future that is theirs. And I try to grasp the meaning of it all. When my parents came to California from Montana they brought with them all they could carry from the past in boxes and in their hearts. They left behind large families and brought only themselves and seven- year- old me. They were making a new start in a new place with fresh energy, carrying thoughts of a youthful past. Their traditions helped to make the change less frightening. They missed the snow and all that made winter real in the north yet they cherished the blooming plants and green hills here just as much. My mother would exclaim with delight when she 60 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
saw bright flowers somewhere in November. We settled in a small town on the shore of San Pablo Bay near San Francisco (the place which natives always referred to as “The City.” We were warned that on no account were we to refer to it as “Frisco”) This was a magical place which one could only get to on an auto ferry. We had never seen so much water before so that ferry was our first adventure in our newly adopted state. When we reached The City we found it to be alive with so many wonders to be seen and experienced. It quickly became a part of Christmas tradition to be added to our own. The stores on
Market Street were beautifully dressed with holiday scenes, some of which had figures that moved about accompanied by lovely Christmas music. Crowds gathered to watch these displays and to marvel at the technology of mannequins that waved and gestured. There were stores that were stuffed with every child’s dreams. And then there was the marvelous Nutcracker Ballet to dazzle and delight all who were fortunate enough to see it. That music still evokes happy
Christmas Traditions
memories for me. “The City” was the personification of Christmas wonders. Even the people there were fascinating to us. Most of them always seemed to be dressed as though for a special occasion. The women wore hats and gloves and pointy high heels and walked about like fashion models, and even the men were attired in suits, hats and ties. We always felt as though we were part of another world as we gazed at the impressive statuary and tall buildings. Sometimes my heart yearns for that beautiful city of yesteryear, which is no more. At home our Christmas began when we received the winter catalogs from Sears and Roebuck and Montgomery Ward. For days we pored over the pictures, making wish lists and dreaming of the delicious surprises to come. My parents allowed me to choose an inexpensive gift for each of them. Of course, it didn’t occur to me that they would not be
surprised when they received these gifts even though they had to order and pay for them. Such is the sweet innocence of children A few days before Christmas we would go looking for the perfect tree to grace our small house. It had to be fresh and fragrant and just the right size and shape. We walked around and around a dozen of them, arguing and rejecting, until we found the one that had been waiting for us all along. My mother would pronounce it “just right” and my father would heft it to his shoulder and walk off whistling “Jingle Bells” to bargain with the tree-lot man for it’s price. He would point out its imaginary flaws until the man would finally knock a quarter from the price just to get rid of him. Dad always enjoyed this little victory so it set a jolly tone for the rest of the season. When we got it home we placed it on a homemade stand and admired its perfection. I loved the forest aroma that filled the house. Then Dad would bring down the boxes from the attic and we would begin to create the magic of our traditions. The baubles were carefully wrapped in tissue and each one had a history of it’s own. Many came
from Europe, passed along through generations, and most had come from the childhood of my parents. “Oh, remember this one,” they would say and then recount some dear story that went with it. In this way our families back home came to join us for a little while. There were some tears at times but mostly there was a kind of peace that comes with acceptance and happy memories. In Montana we had used real candles on the branches. They
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with mint jelly, sometimes a juicy roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, sometimes a ham. These were the mainstays of their English-Irish background. Always there were mashed potatoes with savory brown gravy, sweet potatoes, and even sometimes new-fangled California vegetables like artichokes or asparagus. All was followed by mincemeat pie, apple pie, and plum pudding in a wonderful sauce. We often had guests for dinner to help us eat all of this food. Occasionally they brought samples of their food to share with us. Our Christmas traditions are not much different from those who have come from the same culture. Each generation weaves something of itself into the tapestry to create another beautiful segment in this joyous celebration of Birth of Love. Then the bond between the past and the future is strengthened and made meaningful for all.
were only lighted once in awhile for a very short time. I shudder now when I think how dangerous that must have been. In California we could have a string of electric lights which, although they burned out frequently, enthralled us with their beauty when they were all lit at once. At that time the radio was a very new invention which brought us Christmas programs and music from far away places. We heard “Dickens’ Christmas Carol” from “The Little Theater Off Time Square”. We laughed at the antics of Amos and Andy and we listened to choirs from great cathedrals bringing us the finest music. We could not imagine a more thrilling invention than this. On Christmas Eve we gathered around the tree and opened our gifts, then went off to midnight mass in the little church brilliant with candlelight, and red and white Poinsettias. On Christmas morning I would find one of my stockings on the foot of my bed filled with nuts, hard Christmas candies, and an orange. The house was filled with the rich aroma of whatever my mother was preparing for the festive dinner. Sometimes it was a leg of lamb 62 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
CLICK Hundreds of Ridge Links, Interactive Community Calendar and More!
www.theparadiseconnection.net
Winter Quotes
Community Seeds Asked:
What is your favorite thing about the winter? Quiet nights ,sitting by the fire. —Kitty Henry, Chico
Wearing my UGGs!
I like enjoying the holidays —Jenny Cooper, Durham and being with family. —Raymond Cooper, Durham
I like the crisp mountain mornings.
My favorite thing to do in —Marianne Smith, Hayfork the winter is play in the snow with my kids in the front yard.
I love it when it snows in Redding. I like to bake, stay home and have a fire.
In the winter, I love taking my child to Christmas Preview in Downtown Chico.
What is your favorite thing to do in the winter?
My favorite thing to do in the winter is to sit in front of a —Julie Weaver, Chico warm cozy fire with a good book.
I love to bake, sew and do crafts with the kids.
Lake Almanor
My favorite thing to do is stay —Michelle Fox, Redding warm by the fire and read. —Debbie Robles,
My favorite part of winter In the winter, we love picking is the snow. I like the snow out our Christmas tree. because it is cold outside and we get to drink hot cocoa. —Erica Alvistur, Chico Another reason I like the snow is because it is very fun to play in and build snowmen. —Michelle, W. , Paradise
—Jennifer Branch,
Grass Valley My favorite wintertime activities are: skiing, sledding, having hot chocolate and watching the sun glisten on the freshly fallen snow —Molly, Age 11, Paradise The thing we love to do is to take our kids up to Butte Meadows and cut a fresh Christmas tree. —Mary Wolfe, Chico
—Joyce Finch, Magalia
—Alycia Barrett, Redding My favorite winter activity is Live Green Creations sledding in my back yard. —Carly, Age 11, Paradise
I like sitting by the fire, watching movies and eating popcorn. —Sarah Butcher, Chico
My favorite thing about winter is that I get to walk in the park, all bundled up, and enjoy the quiet.
I like finding my stocking and Playing in the snow is my looking what is in it. favorite thing to do. I like to slide down the hills on your —Macy Cooper, Age 5, bottom without a sled. —Carrie Asosp, Chico Durham —Lily Merrell, Age 3, Chico w w w.communityseeds.com
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Out and About
Out and About: LOCAL Destinations
Travel Tips on Adventures Not to be Missed
Grace Allread With Clowns 1946 64 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
Circus Town
"CHICO, CIRCUS TOWN”
NOW PLAYING AT THE CHICO MUSEUM!! By Jan Holman “Chico, Circus Town,” an exhibition of local and national circus memorabilia, opened on October 18th. It will run through June 12, 2009 at the Chico Museum at the corner of Salem and 2nd Street in downtown Chico. It is with particular pride and enthusiasm that the Far West Heritage Association presents this exhibit, provided by the family of Arvel and Grace Allread. It is truly a gift to all who step through the museum doors! Opportunities to view circus material are rare. The nearest permanent circus display to be found is the Ringling Museum in Baraboo, Wisconsin. As the title suggests, the exhibit reveals a little known aspect of Chico’s history: its value to
circus folk as a “Circus Town.” Any visitor to the show will quickly grasp the complex nature of moving, presenting and putting on a 3-ring circus and will gain a new appreciation for Chico as a welcoming home away from home for circus performers who work so hard to entertain us all. The exhibit uses sound, smell, and dozens of circus posters, photographs, costumes, and props drawn from the Allread collection to bring the circus to life in the galleries of the Chico Museum. The historic and artistic value of the original circus posters alone, merit a visit. The posters represent popular art and promotions from every decade of the 20th century, including several beautiful lithographs
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Out and About
CIRCUS MAGIC 1.Two circus posters with a cage used to house a monkey. 2. Cover of Life magazine with a child admiring the circus from afar. 3. Posters on barns advertise the local circus.
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WONDERMENT 4. Arvel and Grace Allread 5. Chico Circus poster 6. Walter L. Main Polar Bear Poster 1924. 7. Circus memorabilia, including posters and tent rings.
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Circus Town
IMAGINATION 1. Anne Seiler, Curator for Far West Heritage at center ring. 2. Circus photos from the past behind a center tent post. 3. Circus toys.
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INTRIGUE 4. Under the big top. 5. The circus train comes to town (replica). 6. The ring master’s uniform. 7. Replica of a typical circus tent.
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Arvel
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from the 1920’s. Many of the posters feature the date of Chico performances. Visitors can step back a century in time and imagine the breathtaking anticipation of youngsters never exposed to the world through radio or TV, as they anxiously awaited the arrival of the magnificent elephants, tigers and bears, oh my! Photographs from the 1890’s, onward, reveal circus performers (both human and animal) resting and practicing on the back lot. Circus in Ch ico The entire exhibit is on loan from the Allread family. It was accumulated by Grace and Arvel over a lifetime and during their years as circus performers and owners of their own circus. Arvel played in the band and Grace performed high in the air on a swinging ladder. Following Arvel’s completion of service in WWII and into the early 1950’s, the circus was their world and that of their family that had grown with the births of their seven children. Arvel carried his flair for performing to a career as an extraordinary band instructor. Grace transferred her eye for the unique and beautiful to her own boutique and gift shop, “Grace Jr.’s,” now run by her family, on Sixth Street, next to the Broadway in Chico- Photo is from the John Nople Stansbury House in Chico.
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Collection at CSU, Chico.
The inner workings of the circus are revealed by special guest Curator and circus scholar, Sarah J. Blackstone, who has traveled repeatedly from Vancouver, British Columbia, where she is the Dean of Fine Arts at the University of Victoria; and by Anne Seiler, Far West Heritage Association and Chico Museum Curator. In order to accommodate the treasure trove that makes up the Allread Collection, a section of one gallery will rotate a special, in-depth feature every 4-8 weeks. The museum is open Wednesday - Sunday from 12-4 with extended hours on Saturdays from 10-5. Group tours are available by appointment. OCTOBER 2008 * T HROU G H JUN E 200 9
CHICO CIRCUS E 141 Salem Street
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CHICO, CIRCUS TOWN October 18, 2008 thru June 21, 2009 141 Salem Street (at Second Street) (530) 892-1525 The Chico Museum is sponsored, in part, by the City of Chico
In order to accommodate the treasure trove that makes up the Allread Collection, a section of one gallery will rotate a special, in-depth feature every 4-8 weeks: • • • • • •
A Backyard Circus: Chico & The Allread Family Sat.Oct.18-Sun.Nov.30 Circus Kings & Queens Sat.Dec.6-Sun.Jan.18 Sideshows, Freak Shows, & Wonders of the Midway Sat.Jan.24-Sun.Feb.15 Screamers, Bandsmen, & The Circus Fanfare March Sat.Feb.21-Sun.Mar.29 Wild, Wild West Shows Sat.Apr.4-Sun.May10 (Mother’s Day) Lions & Tigers & Bears, Oh My! Sat.May16-Sun.June 21(Father’s Day) w w w.communityseeds.com
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Out and About
Out and About
Travel Tips on Adventures Not to be Missed
A tunnel under the tropical water exhibit, allows visitors to experience life in the waters of the rainforest.
A Green Getaway
California Academy of Sciences A visit for those of any age, for fun and a green education . By Greg Holman
So how could a drive to San Francisco be about going green? Well, just getting within
sight of the new California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park will show you that this is not your normal building. Opened on September 27, the museum is the new and improved version of the original that was demolished in 2003. It was redesigned to create a modern, more earthquake resistant space for visitors. As one of the largest LEED (Leadership in Engineering and Environmental Design) Platinum buildings in the world, the building itself is a destination for many. Designed by Renzo Piano, you cannot help
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A Green Getaway
but notice the large hill-like mounds on the roof. Blanketed with almost 2 million native plants, this living roof acts as insulation, butterfly habitat, runoff control and park. A see-through elevator can take you to the top. The rim of the roof is dotted with over 60,000 individual solar cells, producing up to one-third of the energy needs of the museum. Inside, day lighting and recycled blue jeans are just 2 of the many energy saving innovations. Continued
The roof of the Academy of Science, covered in solar cells and native plant life (Above). Bones of a Tyrannosaurus Rex (Below, top left). Life sized tropical rain forest (bottom, top right). Looking up at tropical fish from underground (bottom, lower left). The Optibike (bottom, lower right).
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Academy of Sciences
Also inside are numerous interactive exhibits to captivate visitors. Highlights of the Steinhart Aquarium include the largest living coral reef - a Philippine coral reef system, upside-down jellyfish, special “kids-only” viewing areas, and a huge clear tunnel under the tropical waters exhibit.
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One side of the museum is dedicated to a life-size rainforest. You can visit and learn at every level: from underneath, ground level, and the entire canopy. Moving between the rainforest to the planetarium, one should pause to view the amazing and rare albino crocodile from above or below the water’s surface. One of the authors’ favorite areas of the museum includes a carbon-footprint calculator, alternative energy display, and the amazing Optibike. The Optibike is a high-end electrichybrid bicycle hand-made in Boulder Colorado (www.optibike.com). Plan on spending at least half of a day here. Tickets seem a little steep for a museum, but you quickly see it is worth the price and it supports a good cause. If you frequent the city, look into their membership program to save a few dollars. Still not convinced this is a
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1. Looking down at the outer reef. 2. Gazing at one of the many, colorful aquariums, 3. A boy admires the movement of small Jellyfish. 4. Tiny eels peek out of the sand. 5. A fish eye view of undersea life. 6. One of the many underground aquariums. 72 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
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“green vacation?� Replace a trip you were going to take that was much farther away: Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara. Now you have gone more local, and experienced one of the premiere science museums in the world!
Visit Details: Website: www.calacademy.org Address: 55 Music Concourse Dr., Golden Gate Park, San Francisco 94118 Phone: (415) 379-8000
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Regular Hours: M-Sat: 9:30-5, Sun: 11-5 Tickets: Adults: $24.95 Youth (12-17), Students (ID Required) or Senior (65+ ID Required): $19.95 Child (7-11): $14.95 Child (6 and under): Free Parking is extra, but to get
10 7. Looking up at a crocodile from an underground aquarium. 8. Looking up at the albino crocodile as a spectator gazes down. 9. Rare albino crocodile. 10. School of Jellyfish.
there without the stress of driving and parking, you can take public transit and get a discount on admission with receipt! w w w.communityseeds.com
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Out and About
SIERRA ORO FARM TRAIL By DeAnna Holman
In the fall, Community Seeds ventured out to the Sierra Oro Farm Trail Passport Weekend. The event set us on the historic farm trail, sharing the agriculture and tastes of California. The farm trail dates back to the 1800’s, when the first farmers came to Butte County. The purpose of the annual Passport event is to further develop “agri-tourism” in Butte County and encourage people to learn about where their food comes from and discover California’s agricultural heritage. The trail goes through Oroville, Durham, Paradise, Chico, Hamilton City, Forest Ranch, Orland, Richvale and Vina.
Businesses that participated in the Passport Weekend event included:
Lodging
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We got our passport and set off to visit farms, wineries, and businesses, influenced by the area agriculture.
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Pioneers of California Agriculture FREDA EHMANN The first overland convoy to California in 1841 was organized and led by 22-year-old John Bidwell, the founder of Chico. Aside from designing and laying out the city of Chico (Vallombrosa Way is one of his creations), Bidwell can easily be considered one of the most influential founding fathers of California. Bidwell seemed to have lived a complete history of California’s early years: participating in the Bear Flag Revolt against Mexico; helping draw up the Bear Flag Republic’s resolution of independence (1846); fought in the Mexican War, marching to Monterey with Colonel Fremont; assisted Commodore Stockton in the recapture of Los Angeles (1847); acted as John Sutter’s right-hand man during the first discovery of gold; and was the first to discover gold in the Oroville area. Bidwell also rose to prominence in California politics, elected to both the State Senate and Congress.While many prominent figures in California’s early years faded into obscurity, Bidwell’s influence continued to grow, which many historians credit to his vision that California’s success lay in agriculture. A farmer at heart, Bidwell introduced almonds, walnuts and peaches to California on his 22,000-acre farm, and the federal government often sent him plants from around the world for experimentation. Bidwell is recognized as having a strong claim to being the founding father of California agriculture.
BUTTE COUNTY AREA MAP
Places to sta
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side on the other - Look for them 95928 on the map de, Chico, CA are labeled These sites st, 1362 Esplana Bed & Breakfa from downtownfive nhouse.net Goodman House located just blocks in the 6, www.goodma revival home luxury amenities (530) 566-025
breakfasts décor with historic colonial elegant period socials and gourmet House is a 1906 evening wine The Goodman Esplanade. The house features Fresh flowers, Chico on the with private bathrooms. guest bedrooms charm. Cabana Dr. River” at 45 add to the inn’s “On the Feather versidebandb.com d lawns to the & Breakfast 533-1413, www.ri Riverside Bed acres with tree-shade baths; some with river B Oroville, CA 95965, (530)is a serene country lodge on three fishing, e walls and private with knotty-pinenjoy natural romance, birding, and Breakfast Riverside Bed Features cozy country rooms s. Guests every morning. style woodstove and River. family Feather breakfast served beds, Jacuzzi tubs CA 95928, river-views, king kayaks/canoes and gourmet 4th St., Chico, access for their ant, 220 W. Johnnie’s Restaur ico.com of modern mondch the convenience Diamond and , fine granite 0, www.hoteldia hotel, the Hotel Diamond blends C Hotel a warm (530) 893-310 1904 Handcrafted woodwork details that provide views d from the original ship of the past. Newly constructethe elegance and craftsman linens are among the many offer sweeping panoramicgreat and luxury balcony suites fine dining and is a amenities with fireplaces appointed and countertops, in-room e for guests. The richlythe hotel, offers full bar inside and inviting atmospher Restaurant, located delightful 1 of Chico. Johnnies or to book a with friends. place to relax information,or call us at (530) 228-094 e, For more m and breakfast. L Artiste, Paradisfparadise@hotmail.co bed de’ e finest s at ladymo celebrations. Northern California’ D Chapell stay, email Melissa into the foothills of Paradise, isromantic get aways and intimate tucked is perfect for an outdoor living Pavilion. L’Artiste, retreat de Chapelle rooms, this exclusive Artist’s barn and With just threegardens with ponds, chapel, Acres of lush
Points of Interest Bidwell Park
The third-largest municicpal park in the U.S. at 3,700 acres, you can enjoy picnicking, hiking, biking, swimming, golf, equestrian trails and multiple playgrounds. Upper Park is a designated wilderness area with over 35 miles of trails. Be sure to pick up a map. Chico Visitor’s Center • 3rd and Salem St. • (530) 891-5556
Founded in 1917, the Butte County Farm Bureau is currently celebrating its 90th year of service to the community. We are a non-profit, grass-roots organization, advocating agriculture and rural interests at the local, state and national levels.
Mother Orange Tree
Planted in the 1850s, this tree spawned the entire citrus industry in Northern California. During the orange and olive exposition in Oroville in 1926, a ceremony was held at the tree and a plaque monument erected in its honor. Glen Drive • Oroville
Visit us online at http://butte.cfbf.com or call (530) 533-1473
Lake Oroville Dam
Dedicated by Governor Ronald Reagan in 1968, it is the tallest dam in the United States at 770 feet high. Underneath is a power plant that creates 2.8 billion kilowatt hours annually. Tours of the power plant are scheduled on a first come-first serve basis, and generally given in groups. (530) 534-2306
Chico born and raised. For more than 30 years we’ve been perfecting our blend of service, convenience and access. Tri Counties Bank will be there when you’re opening your first checking account, starting a new business, buying your own home, or planning for your retirement. Visit us online at www.tricountiesbank.com or talk with one of our friendly bankers at 800-922-8742
Bidwell Bar Bridge
Built in 1856, it was the first suspension bridge west of the Mississippi. It was moved from its original spot on the Feather River when construction began on the Oroville Dam. South End of Lake Oroville in Bidwell Canyon • Oroville (530) 538-2219
Ishi Landmark
A California Historic Landmark highlights the spot where the last Yahi Indian courageously appeared in 1911 to an amazed and curious new society. Ishi’s introduction to a new “western” culture is highlighted in many of Butte County’s museums. Oro-Quincy Highway & Oak Street • Oroville
The Chico Chamber of Commerce is a business advocacy organization representing nearly 1,100 area businesses, with the mission to Foster a Climate in Which Business can Operate Profitably. Stop by 300 Salem Street, Chico, CA 95928, call us at (530) 891-5556, or visit us online at www.chicochamber.com
Honey Run Covered Bridge
One of the few covered bridges left in California, it is also the only tri-level covered bridge in the United States and a great spot for picnics, as well as wading and swimming in the creek. Honey Run Road • (530) 345-9874 or (530) 343-8671
For more information visit us online at www.sierraoro.org or call (530) 566-9849
CHICO FARMERS MARKET Year-Round Every Saturday: 7:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. Rain or Shine 2nd & Wall, Downtown June – September, Wed: Chico am – 12 pm. North Valley Plaza Mall8(corner of East Ave &Pillsbury) DOWNTOWN CHICO FARMERS MARKET BUSINESS ASSOCIATION Thursdays: 5:30 p.m. April – September – 9 p.m., Broadway & 3rd St. OROVILLE FARMERS MARKET May – September Saturdays: 7:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. Municipal Building Montgomery St. (between Huntoon & on Myers) PARADISE FARMERS MARKET June – October Tuesdays: Paradise Alliance Church,7:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. Rain or Shine July – August Thursdays: 6491 Clark Road (next to P.O.) Aquatic Park (off Pearson 5 p.m. – Dusk at Paul Byrne Road, across from pool)
Tours Nature
AREA GRAY LODGE WILDLIFE Pacific Flyway. Running acres that create the jewel of the Birdwatchers enjoy the 9,182 hikers and bikers. roads and 50 miles of trails for through the area is 80 miles of an official California of Fish and Game, the area is in early fall, with Managed by the California Dept. cranes begin to return to the area Watchable Wildlife site. Sandhill season from November to January. the height of the migratory bird Roads, Gridley. Pennington/Almond Orchard (530) 846-7505 wildflowers is TABLE MOUNTAIN WILDFLOWERS the stunning release of spring Often pictured in popular magazines, starting in March to the end of April, is a new year, drive from without equal in California. Every from week to week. Only a 20-minute show, often with colors changing Road downtown Oroville. Cherokee FEATHER FALLS America. You’ll need to the 6th-highest waterfall in choose between Plumas National Forest is home round trip hike, but visitors can about four hours to cover the 7-mile markers every mile. Enjoy the falls from a with Bring plenty of the strenuous or moderate trail, last mile on the way back is uphill. lookout deck, but remember the 534-6500 aware of when the sun sets. (530) water, comfortable shoes and be AREA OROVILLE STATE WILDLIFE 11,000 acres of Dept. of Fish and Game, these and fishing Administered by the California for the enjoyment of bird watchers natural beauty have been preserved the area, as well enjoy the 171 species that frequent Be sure to pick enthusiasts. Birdwatchers will June. active from February through as the heron and egret rookery there are some fishing restrictions. up a map at the entry points as (530) 538-2236 FEATHER RIVER FISH HATCHERY steel head trout adult salmon and 2,000 adult The hatchery can handle 9,000 20 million eggs to spawn. The incubators can hold runs, returning to their home stream the spring (June) and fall (Sept.–Nov.) and 9.6 million fingerlings. During built into the fish ladder. An amazing the fish can be viewed from windows most dramatic pilgrimages. Table Mountain opportunity to witness one of nature’s Day, Oroville. Opens day after Labor Blvd. at Feather River Crossing, 8 a.m. – Sundown, (530) 534-2306 CENTER NATURE TRAIL in national CHICO TREE IMPROVEMENT are grown here and then planted Native California conifer seedlings a half-mile paved loop along Comanchepicnic forests throughout the state. Tour with two trees border a fast-flowing creek Creek. Many varieties of stately use only; seven days a week. sites. 2741 Cramer Lane. Day (530) 895-1176
In 1895, at the age of 56, Freda Ehmann found herself penniless and a widow. Her sole tangible asset was a 20-acre olive orchard of dubious value. While her son, friends and a few lawyers urged her to file bankruptcy, Ehmann reminded her son that the family had always paid its debts. Thus began, what a society at the end of the 1800s would have seen as impossible, incredible steps of faith for a woman.
“In looking back over these first pages of our business history, one might truthfully say that I did not know the enormity of the task which was before me.” — Freda Ehmann, 1911
In the spring of 1898, Ehmann assembled enough money to embark on a marketing trip. First heading by boat to Vancouver, the year of the Klondike Gold Rush, she then traveled east, meeting with huge success in Philadelphia. By the trip’s end, she had contracts for 10,000 gallons of olives, even though her orchard produced only 1,000 gallons. Her faith never allowed her to question whether she could pull it off. In 1898, the Ehmann Olive Company in Oroville was incorporated. Known around town as a compassionate, caring woman and boss, she not only gave Oroville and the state a multimillion dollar industry, but used her influence to fight for the ability of others to better themselves, from worker’s rights to women’s suffrage. As a testament to her business and social stature in the early 20th Century, the mother of California’s olive industry counted Susan B. Anthony and Carrie Chapman Catt as her admirers.
These sites are labeled on the map - Look for the icons on the other side
BIDWELL MANSION One of California’s most important founding fathers, John Bidwell, bought 28,000 acres on which he started the city of Chico in 1860. You can pay a visit to John and Annie Bidwell’s mansion just like many of their prominent guests: Pres. Rutherford B. Hayes, Susan B. Anthony and John Muir. State Historic Park • 525 Esplanade, Chico (530) 895-6144 • Wed–Fri 12–4 pm; Sat & Sun 10 am–4 pm LAKE OROVILLE VISITORS CENTER How did they move all that dirt to build Oroville Dam? This is the place to discover the amazing vision and manpower required to build the jewel of California’s aqueduct system, vital to California farms. Exhibits also cover the history of California’s water projects, as well as local Native American culture and wildlife. Look down on the Sierra Oro Farm Trail from the 47-foot-tall viewing tower. 917 Kelly Ridge Road, Oroville • (530) 538-2219 • 9 am–5 pm; closed holidays PATRICK RANCH HERITAGE MUSEUM Step back into the past at the Patrick Ranch, a home that is the remnant of some 600 acres acquired in 1848. The 19th-century home is being turned into an agriculture museum by Chico Museum volunteers. Home not open for tours yet. Contact the Far West Heritage Association for special days and events at the ranch. 10831 Midway, Chico • (530) 893-1525 • www.fwha.org
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U.S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE PLANT INTRODUCTION CENTER Established in 1904, the center received plants from all over the world in order to study their viability in the California climate. Two well-known plants brought to the center were pistachios (1917) and kiwi (1934). Visitors can still view the oldest producing “father” and “mother” kiwi in the nation. A self-guiding brochure takes you on a Nature Trail with more than 70 plant species on display. USDA, Genetic Research Center • 2741 Cramer Lane, Chico • (530) 895-1176 CHINESE TEMPLE & GARDENS Built in 1863, this Registered National Historic Landmark includes a Chinese Garden and Tapestry Hall, as well as a rare collection of Cantonese folk art, costumes and three temples. The Emperor and Empress of China provided funding and furnishings. 1500 Broderick Street, Oroville • (530) 538-2415 • Open Daily (Closed 12/15 – 1/31); Special Tours By Reservation GOLD NUGGET MUSEUM Discover life in Butte County during the 1850s; visit an old country store, walk-through mine, farm and mining equipment and “Nuggetville,” a re-creation of an old west mining town. 502 Pearson Road, Paradise • (530) 872-8722 • Wed–Sun 12–4 pm
What’s in Season? Almonds Rice Peaches Cherries Mandarins Oranges Walnuts Dried Plums Olives Tomatoes Lavender Kiwis Grapes Strawberries Apples Onions
Join us for Passport Weekend 2007 October 6th & 7th!
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Book Family Farm Butte View Olive Company California Harvest Shop Canyon Creek Nursery Chaffin Family Orchards Feather River Alpaca Farm Golden West Nuts Harvest Hill Farm Lodestar Olive Oil Lundberg Family Farms Maisie Jane’s Massa Organics Mountain View Christmas Tree Farm Mt. Ida Mandarin Ranch Noble Orchards Ord Bend Farms and Bed & Breakfast Pedrozo Dairy & Cheese Company Tri L Mandarin Ranch Wagon Wheel Market
Wineries
Discover our Agricultural Heritage
Jan. Feb . Mar . Apr . May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec.
JOHN BIDWELL
Chapelle de L’Artiste Goodman House Bed & Breakfast Hotel Diamond Riverside B&B
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Bertagna “Son” Kissed Vineyards Gale Vineyards Grey Fox Vineyards LaRocca Vineyards Long Creek Winery New Clairvaux Winery Odyssey Winery and Vineyards Quilici Vineyards
Each time we reached a destination, we would get our passport stamped. We also got to try samples of foods, drinks or products from each business. Many businesses provided extensive tours and discussions about their agricultural business. On the tour, we met many great people, we learned a lot about the processes of getting food from farms to the table, and we gained a new sense of pride in our local agriculture. We enjoyed the experience and highly recommend taking a tour through the Passport Weekend event or plan your own tour at: www.sierraoro.org. w w w.communityseeds.com
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Family
By Shelly Hodge
A Fruit Tree Orchard for Every Garden By Ken Hodge
What is more delicious than tree ripened fruit, picked from your own backyard? The taste is not comparable to store-bought fruit and fresh fruit is very nutritious. Teaching our kids, and maybe ourselves, is one of the best practices that we can learn. So why do so few people grow their own fruits and vegetables? One reason is that it is somewhat of a lost art. Teaching our kids and ourselves this art is one of the best things we can do for our families. However, it hasn’t been a necessity since the Victory Gardens of World War II or the Great Depression. Another reason we don’t grow our own food, and fruit in particular, is that we see it as a mess and a burden. Most fruit trees grow 20 to 30 feet tall and are wide. Some trees require a spraying or two to prevent things like peach leaf curl. Some types of fruit trees set too many fruit and if you don’t thin the fruit out, the tree can break off limbs. Now, before I scare you away from the idea of growing your own fruit, let me tell you that all of these problems are pretty easily resolved, or at least cut down to size, by simply keeping your fruit trees under 6 feet tall. This is easily done, as I will show later. The fruit tree cultural practices that scare many gardeners away from trying to grow their own trees are easily accomplished on fruit trees that are kept no taller than the gardener him/herself. Fruit trees grown in this way can even be farmed from 76 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
a wheelchair, scooter or walker, and it is a therapeutic exercise. The most important cultural practice for this kind of gardening is of course the pruning itself. The timing of pruning is the most important. I have discovered this after growing my own dwarf fruit orchard for the last 20 years. To keep it simple, the times to prune back your fruit trees to under 6 feet tall are late spring [in mid to late May] and late summer [in early September]. When trying something new, it’s good to keep it simple so that you don’t get frustrated. The late spring pruning usually has the most growth to cut off. Most fruit trees grow the fastest in the spring months. Often people ask: “How can you cut off the 3 or 4 feet of new spring growth?,” or “Won’t that cut off all your fruit from the tree?” Not at all, most fruit trees bear their fruit on last year’s wood, so any new growth from this year is just vegetative growth, without any fruit on it. Also, the spring growth is soft and it cuts off very cleanly and easily if you cut it before the wood hardens in the summer. The next time you should cut back your fruit trees to under 6 feet is in the late summer. I wait until the blistering heat of late summer is over. But don’t wait until late fall to cut them back because the fruit buds are set in the fall and then you will lose some of next year’s fruit from your trees. For this second pruning, the wood is harder, but there is less to prune off because the trees haven’t grown as much during the summer
as they did back in the spring. When doing both your late spring and late summer pruning, be sure to cut out any dead wood and perform any corrective pruning practices, such as removing crossing branches. In our family fruit orchard at our nursery (Hodge’s Nursery in Durham), we have about 60 different fruit trees planted in an area that only 3 full sized trees could be planted. This is possible because the fruit trees are planted only 5 feet apart. You are welcome to come and visit our nursery and see the demonstration fruit orchard. It makes it so much more real to see it in person. When people look at the way it is designed, they say that it is simple and feel comfortable trying it themselves. Many people come back when it is pruning time for a refresher course on pruning, but once they have pruned the trees once or twice, they understand how easy it is to keep their trees dwarfed by pruning. Some people ask why you can’t just do the one heavy pruning in the winter. The main reasons
1
Fruit Trees are: You would be pruning about 6 feet of growth off the tree all at once, which leaves mainly just stumped off heavier branches. The trees won’t get their characteristic full bushy shape with lots of fruit buds for next year. They will look hacked off and most of the fruiting buds that were set earlier in the fall will now be in your burn pile. Another question I get asked a lot is, “Why don’t they just plant fruit trees that are genetically dwarfed down to this 6 foot size?” I wish this were possible in every case, but most fruit trees don’t come in genetically dwarfed down sizes this small. The marketing of fruit trees makes it sound like all trees come in three ultimate sizes: full sized, semi dwarf and genetically dwarfed. This is, unfortunately, not true. Also, many of the genetically dwarfed trees have fruit that don’t taste all that good. Good examples are the genetically dwarfed peaches like El Dorado or Pix Zee. While these genetically dwarfed trees stay fairly small without much pruning, the flavor of their fruit doesn’t compare with the standard sized peaches like Strawberry Free, O’Henry
2
1. The Flavor Supreme pluot will set about 300 fruit. The branches won’t break, because of the trees short compact form. 2. This Flavor King pluot has over 200 fruit on it. 3. Daniel, our son, standing next to a year planted apricot tree. 4. Fairtime peach ripens in mid September to mid October.
3
4 w w w.communityseeds.com
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Fruit Tress, Continued or Red Haven. Likewise, the standard sized nectarines like Fantasia, Heavenly White & Liz’s Late are far better tasting than the genetically dwarfed varieties like Necta Zee nectarine. Though burdensome to some, cultural practices of fruit trees really shrink down to size when you keep you trees under 6 feet. Pruning the trees, thinning of the fruit if necessary and picking of the fruit, are all done with your feet on the ground, with no ladders. It takes me about an hour to prune all 60 fruit trees in our orchard, because they’re all down at my level. I rarely thin the fruit out, unless I’m trying to increase fruit size. The trees don’t split apart from the numerous ripening fruit because the short and stoutness of the branches don’t have the leverage against them that long, heavy branches can exert. And when it comes to the picking the fruit, we always get plenty of help from family, friends, employees and customers. Since we’re running out of space in our limited garden area, we’re starting to plant 2 fruit trees in each hole. If fact, you can plant 3 or even 4 trees in the same hole, keeping them about a foot apart. This can really increase your production in small yards. Again, if you prune them in late spring and late summer, you can
maintain the harmony between the trees. As far as production, a single plum or pluot tree can easily produce 200-300 fruit in good pollination years. You will get one half or one quarter of that per tree when they are planted 2 to 4 trees per hole, which is still an ample amount of fruit. When you use your garden space wisely by planting your trees 5 feet apart and by planting multiple trees in one hole, you can have tree ripened fruit from your garden year-round. Most of the fruit trees will ripen from May through November. When you include citrus trees, you get Satsuma Mandarins ripening in late fall, Washington Navel Oranges ripening in the winter and Clemintine Mandarins ripening in early spring. In our small garden, we have some type of fruit that is a pleasure to eat, at all times of the year. In almost any yard, you can plant some fruit trees. Even if you only have a single spot, you can plant 4 trees in the same hole. That still can provide 4 different types of fruit that ripen at 4 different times of the year. It really only requires a few hours a year to maintain the garden if you dwarf the trees by pruning. You can spend more time eating the fruit and enjoying your creation than laboring in it.
The spacing between our tree rows is 10 feet. If your space is limited, you can shrink this down to 5 to 7 feet row spacing.
78 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
His daughter told him his farm was for the birds
e t s a t t a e r g g n i w Gro ™ s n o i t a r e f or gen
O
ne day, when Wendell Lundberg was out driving Eldon, Wendell, Harlan, and Homer Lundberg his daughter Jessica around his rice fields, she told him something that changed his life forever. She pointed out that the land he was farming was originally for the birds, not for rice. That started him thinking. So much so, that he started farming with bird habitats in mind. Today, Jessica is the Chair of the Board. Pretty smart kid. Wendell and his three brothers Eldon, Harlan and Homer have been growing rice sustainably in Richvale, California since they were kids. Their father, Albert Lundberg, taught them a simple lesson: leave the land better than when you first arrived. Since 1937, the Lundberg family has been farming delicious rice while respecting and sustaining the earth. Today, the third generation carries on the family heritage. We continue to use eco-positive farming methods that produce wholesome, healthful rice products, while protecting and improving the environment for future generations. For more of the story go to www.lundberg.com.
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Food
Cook’s Corner
WINTER Foods For Family and Friends Text by “Danny D”
Danny D. here! I am excited to share recipes with you to enjoy for your holidays. In this issue, I would like to share some recipes that aren’t only for Christmas. Pork roast, Winter Salad and Apple Crisp with red hot candies also make an easy Valentine dinner. The “Easy Holiday Cookie” recipe (also in the last issue) can be used to make heart shaped, or Christmas cookies. This is also a great time of year to warm up with a bowl of soup. To create an easy, fast soup, don’t toss the leftovers; package and label them and place in the freezer. When you decide you need a quick soup, pull them out toss them together and add extra broth if necessary. I loved the soups my Grandma made from the leftovers she would save in a coffee can in her freezer!
Pesto Stuffed Pork Loin 2 1/2-3 lb. Pork loin roast (Boneless) 2 tsp lemon pepper Pesto: 3/4 cup firmly packed fresh parsley 1/4 cup fresh rosemary leaves 1/4 cup fresh mint or basil leaves 3-4 garlic cloves chopped 2 Tbsp olive oil Preheat oven to 400. In a food processor, combine all pesto ingredients; process until smooth.
Winter Salad
1 head of lettuce (preferably not iceberg) 1 red skinned apple Lay pork loin on a cutting board. With a knife, carefully 1 green skinned apple or a pear butterfly roast (run knife through center of roast without ½ cup broken cashews (or your favorite nut) cutting into two halves). Cover pork with plastic wrap. 1/4-1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese With a meat mallet, pound pork until uniform thickness. 1/4 -1/2 cup dried cranberries or cherries Remove plastic wrap, spread with pesto mixture. Roll Dressing Ingredients: 1/4 cup or less sugar like you would to make a jelly roll or cinnamon rolls. 1/3 cup lemon juice Tie with kitchen string every couple of inches to secure 3 Tbsp finely chopped onion edges. Rub any leftover pesto onto outside of pork 1 Tbsp spicy or Dijon mustard and sprinkle with lemon pepper and drizzle with a ½ tsp salt little more olive oil. Place on a cooking rack in shallow 1 Tbsp poppy seeds 2/3 cup oil ( I prefer olive oil) roasting pan or directly in roasting pan. . Bake the pork for 10 minutes. Lower the heat to 350 , cooking an additional 40-50 minutes. Use a meat thermometer, inserted into center of thickest part of the meat. Pork should register at 150-155.. Remove from oven, cover and let rest 5-10 minutes. Remove string and cut into serving size slices. 80 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
Wash and dry lettuce; cut and core apple and pear. Add to your favorite salad bowl the lettuce torn into bite size pieces. Slice apple and pear into bite size chunks; layer over lettuce. Next, sprinkle shredded cheese, nuts and dried cranberries. Before serving, drizzle dressing over ingredients.
Food
Easy Holiday Cookies Makes about 2 dozen
Apple Crisp
Makes 16 to 20 servings
6-8 apples (I use a mix of varieties) 1/4 cup sugar 1 tsp cinnamon 2 - 4 Tbsp flour ½ cup raisins, dried cranberries or red hot candies (optional) Topping Ingredients: ½ cup sugar 3/4 cup flour 1/8 tsp salt 6-7 Tbsp butter
Grease 13”x 9” baking dish. Preheat oven to 375
..
Prepare apples by peeling, coring and slicing. In a large mixing bowl, add sliced apples; toss with flour, sugar and cinnamon. Pour apples into a greased baking dish. In the same bowl, add the topping ingredients. Mix with pastry cutter until mixture is crumbly. Carefully sprinkle crumbly mixture over apples. Bake about 45 minutes or until topping is lightly browned and apples look tender. Serve warm or cold, by itself, or with your favorite accompaniment.
This is a super easy, and pretty quick, cookie recipe to make for either Christmas or any of the holidays. It is very versatile. It is fun to add different food colorings to the dough, roll out, and use different cookie cutters and toppings to decorate. It is a lot of fun for kids to help with this recipe. You can also use this recipe for making quick chocolate chip cookies. 1 box of yellow or white cake mix ½ cup flour (Optional use ½ cup Oatmeal instead) ½ cup melted butter 2 eggs Optional: Food coloring, Sprinkles, crushed candy canes or chocolate morsels. . Preheat oven to 350 F In a large mixing bowl, pour in cake mix, flour, butter and eggs. **Mix until a smooth dough is formed. Drop dough by tablespoon or cookie scoop onto a baking sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes. **OPTION: Before the dough is formed, you can add food coloring to mixture and/or colored morsels. You can also make dough without any additions and cover with sprinkles or crushed candy canes. w w w.communityseeds.com
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Food
Pomegranates
Sent in by Richard H. Roth Director of cChaos www.cchaos.org
Pomegranates are in season, and evidently, they are very powerful fruit. You can juice them (It takes about 3 medium size fruit to yield a cup of juice), or eat the fruit. The juice is beneficial as well as the pulp, inner skin of the fruit, and the oil in the seeds. Hopefully, as it becomes more and more evident to the general population that fresh whole plant foods are key to long and healthy lives, changes to our eating habits will insure more of our friends and family will be protected from serious debilitating diseases. So, if you have a pomegranate bush, be sure to make use of that fruit: eat them, share them, and give them!
According to an excerpt from Senior Journal,
(http://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Nutrition-Vitamins/5-0929PomegranateHot.htm), a single pomegranate
provides 40 percent of an adult’s recommended daily allowance of vitamin C and is a rich source of folic acid and vitamins A and E. One pomegranate also contains three times the antioxidant properties of red wine or green tea. Pomegranates contain high levels of flavenoids, a type of antioxidant, which are exceptionally effective at neutralizing cancer-causing free radicals. New research has found that one glass of pomegranate juice a day could improve blood flow to the heart by more than a third. The fruit’s antioxidant properties prevent bad cholesterol from forming, which keeps the arteries clear and reduces the likelihood of heart attacks and strokes. The most recent revelation about the pomegranate’s health benefits suggests that extracts of the fruit could prevent the onset of osteoarthritis.
82 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
Food
Editor’s Choice Orange Flax Muffins Sent in by Kristin Finch . Preheat oven to 375 F Makes 24 muffins This recipe is really healthy, and all of my day care kids love them. I even put them in the freezer and pull out what I want and warm them up. They warm up great in the microwave. Fresh oranges give these muffins great flavor! Kristin Finch 1/2 c. oat bran 1c. flour 1c. ground flaxseed 1c. wheat bran 1 Tbsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 2 oranges, quartered and seeded 1 c. brown sugar 1c. buttermilk 1/2 c. canola oil 2 eggs 1 tsp. baking soda 1 1/2 c. golden raisins (optional) *Line two 12 cup muffin pans with paper liners. In a large bowl, combine oat bran, flour, flaxseed, wheat bran, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. *In a blender or food processor, combine oranges, brown sugar, buttermilk, oil, eggs and baking soda. Blend well. *Pour orange mixture into dry ingredients. Mix until well blended. Stir in raisins. *Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack. Per muffin: 186 cal, 4 g pro, 30 g carbohydrates, 8 g fat, 1 g sat fat, 18 mg cholesterol, 3 g fiber, 140 mg sodium, 4 g flaxseed Note: This muffin is higher in fat than we normally recommend. However, nearly half the fat is alpha-linolenic acid, the plant version of omega-3, which is sorely missing in most diets. We think it’s worth finding room for this muffin in your diet. w w w.communityseeds.com
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Family
How Motherhood Cured My Fear of Flying By Tara Donnell
I am no longer afraid to fly, and I have my son to thank.
took my then 2-month-old son on a flight to Michigan to see family. I became I have been afraid to fly on so distracted by making an airplane since childhood. I sure I timed the nursing remember vigilantly studying right, so that he would be the emergency instructions eating during takeoffs, and card and hanging on the landings, that I forgot to stewardess’ every word. notice when we left the Turbulence caused me mild runway. This was because he panic attacks, and during wouldn’t latch on, and I was takeoffs and landings, I made certain screams were about the sign of the cross over to erupt from his tiny mouth myself, and I’m not even if he didn’t start eatingCatholic. pronto! I am a changed woman. I am now able to get on an airplane and feel not one shred of anxiety or panic when taking off or landing. I laugh at turbulence and smile calmly when the fasten seat belt sign is abruptly turned on. Too good to be true? Well, sadly, I must admit that it is. The reason why I am no longer afraid to fly is because that fear has been overtaken by a new and more powerful one: the fear of flying with my son, also known as the fear of public embarrassment. I first noticed this when I 84 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
whole new set of challenges appeared. He was now mobile, and he never wanted to sit still, ever. I also couldn’t afford to buy him his own seat, so he was on my lap the entire time. Or should I say, on and off my lap and up and down the aisles the entire time.
Here again, I had not one spare minute to indulge my previous flying phobia. While my son climbed all over me and kicked the seat in front For the entire flight, I became of him, I glanced across preoccupied with this new the aisle and up two rows fear as the realization sunk where I saw a cute little girl in that I was responsible about my son’s age. She was for another human being sleeping peacefully on her yet could not necessarily mom’s lap, her head resting control his behavior in this comfortably on her shoulder. confined airplane. After I watched enviously while all, if my baby decided to her mom calmly sipped her shriek uncontrollably for the Sprite and read a People entire flight and I couldn’t magazine. get him to stop, it’s not like I could leave the plane. The My eyes grew wide as I thought of 147 people on a processed what I was seeing. plane being mad at me was You mean some toddlers so terrifying, that I hardly actually will sit still and be noticed anything about the calm with their mothers? actual flight at all. Am I hallucinating, or is that woman actually reading The next time I was on a a magazine and enjoying plane to Michigan, my son a beverage? I secretly was 16 months old and a wondered what kind of
Family
medication this sleeping beauty’s mom had slipped her when no one was looking, and could I get my hands on some? Of course, we all know the answer to the medication question is “No,” though Benadryl can be administered. Don’t think I haven’t tried it because I have, with dismal results. Flying with my son now made my former flying fear seem like a luxury. I remember thinking about this when flying, sans son, to a retreat for myself at my best friend’s home in Seattle. I was so relieved to be on a plane without him, that none of my old fears about flying came back! I reveled in the ability to board a plane with just my purse and an Amy Tan novel. I actually got to drink my Coke in peace without little fingers grabbing ice or limbs flailing around me. I was able to listen to my I Pod, to any song I wanted! Here’s the best part, I actually took a nap! Suddenly, flying took on a
whole new meaning in my life: freedom, relaxation, sleep! I was not going to squander this precious time by giving into my former fear. Instead, I chose to “enjoy the ride,” as they say.
Yet, I was unable to imagine “enjoying the ride” when it came to thinking about air travel with my son. When he was between the ages of 2 to 3 and a half, I flat out refused to fly with him. My fear and anxiety had grown as big as his temper and energy
level. There was no way I was going to set foot on a plane with him during that stage in his development. Once my son was closer to age 4, I worked up the nerve to face my fear and try flying with him again. After all, I rationalized to myself, he is older now. We can communicate better, and he is interested in more things like books and DVDs. Plus, I bought a cute teddy bear backpack with a leash in case he tried to run away once we were in the airport. I also had a secret weapon; my mother was accompanying us on the trip. It was two against one, bound to be a success! So what if he can’t sit still, entertain himself, and runs faster than a cheetah? As for that most recent trip, I’ll spare you the gory details. I will say, it is a darn good thing for him, and me, that the leash was securely fastened when we entered the airport. Only one positive thing occurred on that flight. It w w w.communityseeds.com
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Motherhood Cured My Fear...Continued
happened when the service cart was making its way down the isle for drink orders. I assure you that I fully intended to order two apple juices, one for him and one for me. However, when the stewardess was only two rows away I discovered to my horror, that the DVD player I had brought specifically for this trip was broken. Suddenly, panic and a foreboding sense of doom crept in to my thoughts as I watched my son kick the seat in front of him. Noticing my glare, he unbuckled his seat belt, slid down to the floor, crawled under his seat and reemerged with flip-flops from the passenger behind us. Holding them up close to my face he smiled proudly and exclaimed, “Look what I got!” “What would you like to drink?,” the stewardess sweetly asked. I turned to look at her and without hesitating said, “An apple juice for him, and a rum and coke for me.” I smiled at her and she flashed a tight smile back in an attempt to hide, what I think, was a judgmental frown. But I could have been imagining it. My mom, who doesn’t drink alcohol unless it’s hidden in a daiquiri, smiled sympathetically at me and said. “I think you are going to need it.”
Tracy Lynn Photography
Learn From Perry the Pack Rat how to find a friend, how sharing lets your heart smile and how important it is to be yourself. These colorful, whimsical stories will delight the entire family!
www.tracylynnphotography.com (530) 518 - 7431 Join Perry as he gathers treasures, makes new friends and learns life lessons!
Check Out
Kid's Page!
www.TheChicoConnection.com
Your Source For kid Related Web Links! 86 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
Visit the website for more information and the author signing schedule.
Family
If you are searching for a great, indoor activity for your kids this winter, consider martial arts. It offers physical and mental training and is a great option in the winter.
Martial Arts for Youth By Sue Barch
Photographs by Kari Casey
Have you ever noticed the difference in people’s eyes? One person has something inside their eyes that looks solid, rooted, and ready to look at the present openly. Another person’s eyes seem empty, or their gaze flits away, hiding.
in the room. Travis gradually gains knowledge in class and new colored belts and certificates mark his progress and increased skill. A child walks differently when they have passed a difficult promotion and are wearing a new belt.
If you are a parent you know you want your child to be rooted, deep down inside, to some calm, assured strength that comes from self knowledge and healthy achievement. Aaah. The world is pretty scary sometimes.
Nina, a little reticent usually, faces another child in a sparring exercise. Kicking and hitting are refined in a careful teaching environment. With more skill at the dojo, Nina looks down on goofy acting out on the playground. After all, she practices this and is skilled at it!
One way (and I need to emphasize, one way) to anchor ones’ self in assurance and self knowledge is participation in the martial arts. The calm knowledge of how to react when faced with fear, challenge, tyranny, or insult is a priceless possession. So, what happens to bring about your child’s deep, new sense of safety and balance?
Garrett, an only child, is corrected and encouraged by a respected male or female new role model. His Sensei has to be deeply trusted with boundaries and physical safety. Accomplishment is won with genuine effort and even a little “looking inside.” Deep growth occurs in Garrett’s self respect and ability to assess character and recognize what might be a threat in someone he meets.
Little Travis goes in to a new karate class and sees a big, new kind of challenge…everyone is in white uniforms! There’s a high level of energy
Challenges in martial arts can be both new and repeated: learn to balance, learn to be sensitive to your training partner, learn to be respectful
AicoraGems
Martial Arts Continued
“Jewelry Box”
without emotional baggage, learn to assess danger and set up a basic response. Be encouraging to your friends. Results? Guaranteed as long as the instructor is kind, thoughtful, skilled and as long as the child stays interested and attends. The truth is, the martial arts just don’t suit everyone’s personality. Go to a facility that you hear good things about from friends or family. Observe, and keep searching until you find a place that feels ethical and comfortable to you.
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Sterling Silver & 14K Gold. Many techniques are used in the creation of this jewelry. Each begins with randomly cut circles. The bracelet has 14K Gold “Swiss” riveted to a hammered textured sterling silver cuff with a bezel set Garnet gemstone (above)
in the “bad” dojo in the Now you can choose “GREEN” Conscientiously handcrafted jewelry! movie The Karate Kid? And Geralyn makes many “GREEN” choices in her jewelry design & production such as: the good guys? We want Designing with gorgeous Sapphires grown in a lab which are chemically the same as natural, do not so much for our children cause any mining damage to the environment and are available at very obtainable prices! to be safe, emotionally and Minimizing use of newly mined gold by buying from suppliers of re-claimed or recycled precious metals. physically, and calm in the Using only certified Conflict-Free diamonds. We re-cycle , use Energy Efficiency fixtures/processes and will have an online vs. printed catalog. face of challenge! We are excited to offer Chico a Different type of Jewelry Experience! Our artistic intimate gallery set-
Martial arts are a proven ting features Quality Unique, “GREEN” & Handcrafted Fine Jewelry. Come by & See! way, and one good way, - Geralyn G. Sheridan AicoraGems LP Designer, Gemologist, Metalsmith to see the blooming of 1334 Mangrove Ave. Chico, CA 95926 genuine strength in your Email: geralyn@aicoragems.com 530-809-1034 child’s eyes. One big job as a parent achieved. Now Open: Thursday - Saturday 10 - 6 or by Appointment
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Prevention is Key During Cold and Flu Season Here are some tips from www.ecochildsplay.com on trying to stay healthy during cold and flu season. 1. Wash your hands frequently, especially when returning home from a public place. Stay away from “antibacterial” soaps with triclosan. 2. Change your hand towels often. Using a common towel may pass germs. 3. Clean the places that harbor the most germs in your house. 4. Get plenty of sleep. Not getting enough sleep will negatively affect your immune system, leaving you more vulnerable to cold and flu viruses. 5. Stay hydrated. Living and working inside with the heat on really dries you out, and it’s harder to remember to drink water when it isn’t hot outside. 6. Take your vitamins. Find a good whole-food based multivitamin for you and your family. 7. Get some sunshine. Exposing yourself to the sun every day boosts vitamin D production and helps to lift your mood, which affects your immune response. 8. Stay active. Regular exercise, especially vigorous exercise, keeps your body healthy. 9. Be positive. Having a positive outlook may be one of the most important things you do for your health. 10. Vitamin C. We are big fans of Emergen-C. Just mix with water for a fizzy, energizing drink. 11. Eat more fruits and veggies. Vegetables and fruits are nutritional powerhouses, and with citrus in season in the winter, eating lots of oranges is a cheap way to support your immune system. 12. Get a massage. A massage will help to support your lymphatic system and flush toxins. 13. Take it easy on the coffee and alcohol. At the first sign of illness, try taking a break from coffee and alcohol to give your liver less to deal with. 14. Just say no. When feeling less than optimal, do less, stay home from work if you can, and don’t over-commit. Make your health the highest priority.
Health
Herbal Products – A Pharmacist’s Perspective by Michael Holman, Pharm.D.
Has a pharmacist, physician, or anyone else in the health care field ever rolled their eyes when you asked them about herbal products? You may wish to use them because they represent an alternative to conventional medicine; you think they are better for you because they are “natural,” or whatever other reason you may have. Unfortunately, the regulations and standards behind any dietary supplement (the broad category under which the federal government defines herbal, mineral, or vitamin supplements) are less strict and defined, making it difficult to compare or even make recommendations about using herbal products. The eye rolling is just an unfortunate slip showing that the health care provider believes he is in for a longer than anticipated counseling session. Please don’t get me wrong, herbal products can potentially be efficacious, but there are multiple issues you need to be aware of if you want to use those products; especially if you want to use them instead of medicines your physician prescribed. The following are big issues that you should be aware of if you are thinking about using herbal products:
Also note the requirements for herbal products to be on the market are significantly less than that of an FDA approved medication. FDA approved medications need to have numerous animal and human studies to prove they are safe and efficacious for people to take. Herbal products can be put on the market at any time and only be removed by the FDA if the FDA proves they are harmful. Ephedra is a perfect example of this. It was on the market and in many weight loss supplements until the FDA finally gathered the data to show it was associated with serious adverse events such as heart attacks, strokes, and seizures. In contrast, FDA approved medications must prove safety and efficacy ahead of time.
2) Herbal products can’t be marketed to cure or treat disease states, only to help with general “well being.” For example, think of products with added lycopene. They say things such as “take this for better prostate health.” 1) Natural is not always safe. Some FDA They never say “to treat prostate enlargement approved drugs are derived from plant and/or cancer.” If they could claim treatment/ products. Digoxin is an old drug derived curative benefits, then there would be studies from plants like the pretty Foxglove. It slows conduction of signaling throughout your body. and data available for us to compare the herbal product with other FDA approved drugs. It affects the heart first and can be beneficial for some heart arrhythmias, but if you take 3) Are there Herb/Drug interactions? As a too much your heart stops (along with other pharmacist, the health care professional who problems). I could list off a handful of other examples, but the bottom line is to remember usually gets any of these types of questions, I can tell you this is a huge headache. FDA natural products can be as dangerous as FDA approved medications will have studies done approved medications. 90 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
Health
describing drug interactions on drugs likely to be given at the same time and elimination and metabolism pathways to help you determine if there could be any theoretical interaction with medications they haven’t tested interactions on yet. Herbal products don’t have this information readily available, if at all. Bottom line, if you start or stop an herbal supplement while you are on other medications, you doctor may want you to do some extra lab tests or other monitoring (i.e. more time and money), especially on drugs like digoxin or warfarin where a slight change of the drug concentration could mean either it doesn’t work or it could be toxic. 4) What part of the herb is working for me? Because of the interest in marijuana as an appetite stimulant (as well as all the reasons it is abused), we know the active ingredient is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (and that is now marketed as Marinol®, an FDA approved drug). However, with most herbal products, we don’t know what about the product is beneficial. So the next question is would equal amounts of the same herb gathered from different growing environments provide the same benefit? We simply don’t know. With FDA approved medications, you typically can use the brand product or its generic equivalent (which is easy to determine with the FDA’s equivalency ratings). With herbals, this is not the case. If you want to use an herbal product, this is a reason to research exactly what was used to provide the benefit you want and make sure you get it from a reputable source.
2007, an herbal product, Liviro3, for male enhancement was pulled by the FDA because it was contaminated with tadalafil (Cialis®). This is yet another reason why you should make sure the source is reputable if you want to use an herbal product. One way to assure yourself that you are getting exactly what is on the label of an herbal product or supplement is to look for the USP (United States Pharmacopea) or NSF on the label. These are independent agencies that will inspect the herbal company’s facilities and products much like underwriters laboratory (UL) does with many electronic goods. As you can see, herbal products can potentially be the snake oil of today. They can make great (albeit vague) claims about how they promote health and are not forced to be subject to any regulatory process. When choosing herbal products, make sure you know of any potential interactions with your other medications and that you are purchasing from a reputable source. Also keep in mind why and how you take the product so when your health care providers need to consider adjustments to your therapy, they can make proper recommendations on your medications and herbal product(s).
For a good web page discussing how to determine if a dietary supplement is right for you, go to: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/ds-savvy.html.
5) What you see may not be what you get. As mentioned earlier, the FDA can only remove herbal products from the market reactively; never prevent them from coming onto the market. There have been many examples of the FDA recalling herbal products, not just because they found the ingredient was unsafe, but because the company contaminated the product with unlisted ingredients. In January w w w.communityseeds.com
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COMMUNITY
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Y FACES
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Community
Durham Community Foundation Funds Started
Sent in By Rian Farley and Susan Murphy starving, they reached Finland after one year and immigrated to the United States, settling in Pacific Grove, California. In support of a community of volunteers making a difference, the Durham Community Foundation collectively addresses the wants and needs of the community and aids in the fulfillment of requests. The Foundation supports the community with grants to local organizations, nonprofits and individuals that improve their programs and support the role they assume in our community. In essence, the Durham Community Foundation’s focus connects charitable donors with worthy endeavors that leave a legacy for the future vitality and quality of life of the greater Durham area. Partnering with the North Valley Community Foundation aids the Durham Community Foundation with administrative duties and guidance with long term funding stability. Serving on the Durham Foundation’s board of directors are Bob Bultema, John Crowe, Rian Farley, Jan Holman, Tod Kimmelshue, Ed McLaughlin, and Susan Murphy. Administrative liaison with the North Valley Community Foundation is Alexa Valavanis.
T
he vision of having a Durham Community Foundation has become a reality through the generosity of the late John Gottlund. John, farmer and philanthropist, was born in the Province of Ufa, Empire of Russia ( Republic of Bashkortostan )in 1915. When anti-government forces overran his parent’s farm, the family escaped through the Ural Mountains. Nearly 94 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
To date, five funds have been established. The John Gottlund Endowment, which has $500,000, will have a 5% annual income distributed to worthy causes in our community. The Community Foundation’s General Fund currently has $42,761; the Durham Friends of the Library Fund has $1,221 and the Howard F. Holman IV Memorial Scholarship Fund has a balance of $5,000.
Community
A newly minted Durham Volunteer Fire Department Squad / Light Rescue and Equipment Fund was created this past Thursday evening with an initial donation from Absolute Safety Training for $225. John Gottlund, Durham Community Foundation’s founding benefactor graduated from Pacific Grove High School and then attended and graduated from Modesto Junior College and William and Mary University in Virginia. Excelling in football, he was drafted by the Washington Redskins, however, his patriotic spirit arose and passing up his dream to play in the NFL, he joined the United States Army and was involved in many engagements throughout France, eventually attaining the rank of Major. He received a Bronze Star and, after the war, returned to California and attended U.C. Davis to coach football and obtain an Ag teaching credential. For two years he taught Ag and coached football at Orland High School. He was then recalled to duty in the Korean War for another two years and received another Bronze Star for heroism. He returned home to manage the Lamb Ranch in Meridian for 10 years and then moved to Durham to manage the Adams Ranch for the Newhall Land and Farming Company for 20 years. John was married to Margaret “Peggy” Durling in 1948. They
were the parents of one son, Stephen, who graduated from Durham High School in 1968. Stephen entered the Navy, serving in the South Pacific during the Vietnam conflict. Peggy predeceased John in 1981, as did Steve in 2001. John was an ardent supporter of agricultural education, collegiate athletics and wildlife conservation. If your club or organization wishes to transfer your funds into the Durham Community Foundation, or if you as an individual choose to make a gift to future funding of Durham’s infrastructure, please contact a board member. Adriana “Rian” (Langerwerf ) Farley atfarley@hughes.net 1384 Durham Dayton Hwy Durham, CA 95938 (530) 894-3163
Durham’s Community Website • Business Links • Durham Business Directory
Durham Community Calendar • • • •
School Events Community Events Durham Recreation Events Interactive
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Community
BRING THE WORLD HOME Host an AYUSA exchange student • Expose your family to a new language and culture • Teach a student about American values and traditions • Make a difference in the life of a young person • Increase cultural awareness in your community Since 1980, AYUSA has arranged for over 40,000 students from over 75 different countries to spend a semester or academic year living with American host families.
Host an AYUSA foreign exchange high school student this school year! www.ayusa.org
1-888-55-AYUSA
Contact your local representative to learn more about hosting: Marne Larsen (530) 895-3241 Your Name Goes Here Local, Regional Director for AYUSA, a non profit Global Youth Exchange Organization.
Phone Number/Email1-888-55-AYUSA Address www.ayusa.org
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Community
AYUSA IS LOOKING FOR CARING HOST FAMILIES By Marne Larsen
AYUSA is looking for caring families who wish to open their homes and share in a meaningful exchange with a young person from another country. AYUSA (Academic Year in the USA) is a nonprofit organization that works to provide young people with learning experiences, promoting cultural appreciation, insight and friendship. Since 1980, AYUSA has arranged for over 40,000 students, from over 75 different countries, to spend a semester or academic year living with American host families.
If you are interested in hosting an AYUSA Exchange Student, call your local representative today! In the Chico area, call: Marne Larsen (530) 895-3241 Local, Regional Director for AYUSA, a non profit Global Youth Exchange Organization. 1-888-55-AYUSA www.ayusa.org
Now is the time for you and your family to make a difference. Host a foreign exchange student this school year! AYUSA students come from diverse countries all over the world and are: • • • • •
Between 15-18 years old Able to speak, read, and write in English Strong academic achievers Enthusiastic and willing to learn Insured and have personal “pocket” money w w w.communityseeds.com
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Community
Work Training Center Submitted by: Karen Huff
Work Training Center (WTC) is a community-based organization that provides a variety of services to adults with developmental disabilities throughout Butte County. Its roots can be traced back to the 1950s, when WTC’s first facility was started in an old army barrack at the Chico Airport. WTC’s fledgling program served four participants and had one volunteer staff member. Ten years later, the facility was moved to Park Avenue and a thrift shop was added. In 1963, WTC moved to 2233 Fair St. with 24 participants. Today, WTC serves more than 750 people with facilities in Chico, Oroville and Paradise and services provided throughout Butte County.
WTC’s fleet of vehicles provides transportation services to clients who would otherwise not be able to get to program.
The Work Activity Program was the first service developed by WTC. This program provides vocational training, work evaluation, work experience and self-help training to develop the ability to become employed within the community. The Work Activity Program serves individuals with developmental disabilities whose impairments create a significant barrier to competitive employment. Clients must be able to meet their own personal care needs and demonstrate the vocational, social and emotional abilities to work in a group setting with general supervision.
In addition, WTC provides other ways for clients to gain work experience. The Community Employment Service division works with employers to find an appropriate participant to fill available positions. Participants are provided with a job coach to assist in training, and tax benefits are available to the employer. There are a wide variety of individuals whose personal preferences or level of disability make them candidates for our licensed adult day programs, located throughout Butte County. These programs are: Joe McGie Center in Chico, Sierra Center in Oroville, and Creative Learning Center in Paradise. Also located in Paradise is our newest day program, Made in Paradise. This program has been developed as an art center, where client artists create items for sale. In addition, clients in the Social Skills Training Program are placed in the various day programs, depending on need and geographic location. Made in Paradise adult day program WTC operates a wide variety of businesses in order to provide our clients with job training and experience. These businesses provide contracted production and service work and include locations in both Chico and Oroville as follows:
• Prestige Landscape is a full-service landscape maintenance and installation business. • Fair Street Recycling, with locations in both Chico and Oroville provides can, bottle and paper recycling.
Prestige Landscape Services crew at work
98 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
• Deer Creek Sewing provides industrial sewing of bags, packs and promotional items, including eco-friendly grocery bags.
Community • Feather River Industries is a production woodshop that creates gift boxes, furniture and pallets. • Bear Mountain Production Services produces gift boxes and provides light industrial assembly and packaging for various businesses. • Feather River Opportunity Center provides fast and accurate assembly of highly sensitive components. The workforce is capable of a wide range of labor-intensive tasks, including light industrial assembly, bulk mailings, collating, labeling and packaging. A confidential document shredding service is also available at this location and at Bear Mountain Production Services.
Confidential document shredding at Feather River Opportunity Center
Work Training Center has had a leadership role in local recycling efforts. As good corporate citizens and community members, WTC is committed to sustainability and environmental stewardship in all aspects of its operations. Sustainability is an important part of the center’s philosophy, starting with the development of Fair Street Recycling in 1979, and continuing today with the expansion of our recycling operations into Oroville in 2006. In addition, the Fair Street Recycling division has recently partnered with Enloe Medical Center to provide an enclave of clients who provide recycling services directly on the hospital’s premises. We are currently exploring the possibility of opening a recycling operation in Gridley in the near future. Additionally, WTC has developed an environmentallyresponsible canvas grocery tote, called the Eco-Groovy Grocery Getter. These handy totes replace the need for using paper or Fair Street Recycling can crusher. plastic at the grocery store and can be purchased either at our Chico location on Fair Street, or online at www.bearmountaingifts.com. WTC promotes energy conservation as an element of environmental sustainability throughout its operations, and ensures that its limited funds are spent wisely. Practices include utilizing a variety of energy conservation measures, and eliminating unnecessary consumption of resources by minimizing wasted materials such as paper, automotive fuel, and water. Work Training Center also strives to be aware of and use the least toxic and most biodegradable products for operations, including janitorial work, pest control, landscape maintenance, and automotive repair and maintenance. Consideration is given to purchasing cost effective supplies made from recycled materials. Additionally, whenever possible, raw materials (especially lumber) will be purchased from sources that are sustainable and recognize long-term environmental stewardship. If you’d like more information about WTC and its programs and services, please contact Executive Director Carl Ochsner at (530) 343-7994 ext. 104.
Eco-friendly grocery totes made by Deer Creek Sewing
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PHILANTHROPY CARING CHANGING MAKING A DIFFERENCE
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F.A.C.T.: Fighting a Cause Together A Helping Hand By Patti Dye
My name is Patti Dye and my daughter, Sarah, is a sixth grader at Evergreen 6 School in Paradise. She and her friends: Vera, Kelly, Israel and Faith have recently started a club, on their own, called Fighting a Cause Together, or F. A. C. T. They meet at the school library once a week and are totally self-guided. They are working hard to reach a goal of earning money to donate to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. These are all local Paradise students of Evergreen 6. So far, they have raised $130.32 towards their goal of $200 by holding a bake sale at school on several days in October. This sale was quite a success, as you can see!
F.A.C.T.’s upcoming plans for raising money include: yard sales, selling hot chocolate, lemonade stands, bake sales, car washes and possibly a raffle. The F. A. C. T. Club is a group of kids with high goals and great ambition. I have no doubt this club will be successful! I am proud of these kids for their big hearts and compassion. Good luck to F. A. C. T. in all your endeavors.
Once the F.A.C.T. Club reaches their goal for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, they will work towards their next goals which include. These include: The Make-A-Wish Foundation, The A.S.P.C.A., The American Red Cross and several others. They would also like to collect canned foods for local charities. w w w.communityseeds.com
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Mothers of Multiples Club Offers Support
Butte County Mothers of Multiples Information by Tina Dewey, President (2008-2009) Butte County Mothers of Multiples and www.buttecountymoms.com. We are very pleased to announce that a new multiple births club has been started in Butte County. We are a new group in Chico and the surrounding Butte County areas. We are here to support mothers of multiples (Twins, Triplets and more). We provide educational, social, and emotional support and guidance to meet the special challenge of parenting two, three, or more children born together. The Butte County Mothers of Multiples Club is for parents of multiples at many stages. Whether you are pregnant, or a parent of infants, toddlers or school age multiples, there is something here for you. This is a place where mothers can meet and help each other by discussing the joys and problems of raising two or more children of the same age. 102 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
The club is a member run, non-profit organization. With paid membership dues to Butte County Mothers of Multiples, members will also become a member of both National Organization and Northern California Association of Mothers of Twins Clubs. Along with the membership, members get: • • • • • • • • • •
Monthly Social Events Informative Speakers Monthly Newsletters Membership to the National and State Mothers of Twins Clubs, Inc. Play Groups and Field Trips Mom’s Night Out Activities Family Outings Club Resource Library Message Board Clothing and Equipment Sales
For more information, please visit www.buttecountymoms.com.
15 Ways to Live Small and Give Big This Holiday Season
Still need a gift idea? Here are some gift ideas that are green, meaningful, help others, and that won’t break the bank. By Amy Behlke A Gift of Love
1
Have a Cow
Acknowledge someone by purchasing a gift in his/ her name. Gifts of hope and empowerment for those in developing nations can be purchased at: www.treesforlife.org
2
Offset a Footprint
Write a Recipe Book
4
Calculate a friend’s carbon footprint, then purchase a carbon offset in their name. This is a great way to join in the green movement and give a unique gift. For ideas visit: www.newdream.org
Help Ridge Families
7
Family Resource Center, a non-profit group, offers support to Paradise families in crisis. Donate to help victims of child abuse and those in need of food. http://www.youth4change.org
Give Your Time
10
Give your time to someone: offer to baby sit so they can get a night away, offer to do yard work for someone who can’t, cook a meal for an elderly neighbor or visit a local nursing home.
“Re Use” a Library
13
Gather several of your favorite used books. Give them to someone who loves to read. Or, visit a local used book store and hunt for your favorite books for a fun, green gift.
Help hungry families in developing nations feed themselves. Visit: www.heifer.org and give the gift of livestock and training to a family in need in villages around the world.
5
Create a custom recipe book of your favorite recipes by printing them on cute stationary. Put the recipes in a binder with dividers. This treasured gift could become a real keepsake!
Bake Up a Gift
8
Lose 41 Pounds
It is estimated that we
3 each get 41 pounds of
junk mail each year. Help a friend stop all that junk mail and help the planet! Sign up someone you know at www.41pounds.org.
Record a Story
a “Book on Tape” 6 Create for a loved one. Choose
a book several people would like to hear, get a tape recorder and start reading! How fun to hear a great book read by someone who cares!
Give to ARC
Old cans from veggies or jars from a variety of sauces make great baking containers! Make mini loaves of quick bread in clean, recycled cans and jars. Wrap with a cute ribbon and add a tag.
a donation to ARC 9 Make of Butte County, or similar
Open a “Free Store”
Share Your Talents
11
Organize a “free store.” People in your neighborhood can bring items they no longer need and trade them. Items left over can be donated to a local charity shop such as The Salvation Army.
Plant a Tree
14
Help fight deforestation and give at the same time! Have a tree planted in someone’s name. It is a unique gift that will last a lifetime and help our planet! www.americanforests.org
organizations, in the name of someone you love. Donate cash, or your car, to benefit developmentally disabled locals.
into your talents. 12 Tap Give the gift of a class
or a lesson by teaching a skill you have. Just think how much fun it might be sharing your knowledge with others and teaching a new skill.
Craft a Card
your own cards 15 Make from recycled paper and
things you have around the house. Have your kids pitch in to create original artwork to include, creating a keepsake card.
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104 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
Community Events . Winter 2008-2009 Community Seeds offers you three, FREE on-line calendars as a resource to you! Click now on any link to visit one of the interactive calendars. You may view, or add an event at any time! www.thechicoconnection.com www.thedurhamconnection.com www.theparadiseconnection.com
Durham’s Community Website • Business Links • Durham Business Directory
Durham Community Calendar • • • •
School Events Community Events Durham Recreation Events Interactive
WWW.TheDurhamConnection.com
CLICK
Your community site for local web links. All links are free to add to this site. Bookmark this site; it will be right at your fingertips to look up local restaurants, green living, local events, and more!
www.TheChicoConnection.com
Hundreds of Ridge Links, Interactive Community Calendar and More!
www.theparadiseconnection.net
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Community Seeds
Advertisers’ Index AicoraGems __________________________________________________________________ 88 Apple Blossom Baby ___________________________________________________________ 25 AYUSA Global Youth Exchange __________________________________________________96 Babies in Chico.com ___________________________________________________________ 42 Baby’s Boutique ______________________________________________________________29 Butte County Almond Hull Association __________________________________________ 13 California Harvest Shop ________________________________________________________ 42 Charli’z _______________________________________________________________________ 42 Chico Bag _____________________________________________________________________ 10-11 The Chico Connection.com______________________________________________________ 21 The Chico Connection Green Page _______________________________________________ 12 The Chico Connection Kids Page_________________________________________________ 86 Chico Eco.org _________________________________________________________________13 The Chico Museum Circus Town _________________________________________________ 69 Cure Recycling.com ____________________________________________________________13 The Durham Connection.com____________________________________________________ 95 Global Basecamps _____________________________________________________________ 21 Global Stewards.org____________________________________________________________13 Green Baby Expo ______________________________________________________________14 Green Hotels.com______________________________________________________________13 Green Power Network _________________________________________________________ 13 Growing Up Chico Magazine ____________________________________________________ 50 Hodge’s Nursery_______________________________________________________________ 50 In Motion Fitness ______________________________________________________________2-3 LeAnn M. Andrews, CPA _______________________________________________________40 Lundberg Family Farms ________________________________________________________ 79 Mr. Kopy _____________________________________________________________________ 104 The Paradise Connection _______________________________________________________62 Rhonda Maehl_________________________________________________________________17 Spa Girl_______________________________________________________________________ 50 ______ ________________________________________________________________29 Stay Vocal.com Teague Family Chiropractic______________________________________________________ 95 Tracy Lynn Photography________________________________________________________ 86 Words of Whimsy ______________________________________________________________86 The Worm Farm________________________________________________________________ 20 Additional thanks to California Wine _______www.MagazineCaliforniaWineMagazine.com
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Join Us In The Spring!
The Next Issue Of Community Seeds Will Be Released March 1, 2009! • Send us an article about being eco friendly. • Send in photos of you and your family. • Send your photos of the Chico Bag in unique locations throughout the world. • Tell us your favorite springtime memory or what you like about the spring. • Send us a spring craft, party, or recipe idea. • Do a book review. • Send us your child’s story or artwork. • Send us your informational articles. • Tell us about local spring activities not to be missed. • Purchase advertising. The Deadline for all of the above is Jan. 25, 2009. E-mail items to info@communityseeds.com. For more information go to www.communityseeds.com. w w w.communityseeds.com
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THANK YOU! Community Seeds eMagazine would like to extend a special THANK YOU to our major sponsors, and all those who have contributed and supported us in this endeavor. The success of the magazine would not be possible without your support!
108 Community Seeds . Winter 2008-2009
www.communityseeds.com