Weather Station is up and running!

The weather station is back up and running! We are very excited to be able to provide up to date weather that is happening right here in Pine Cove. Just go to our website at www.pcwd.org and click on the link. We hope you find this weather station a useful tool.

Heat Wave

After a couple of very hot weeks, it was nice to have the clouds roll by on Saturday and spritz us with a few rain drops. It would have been nice to have more rain, but at least the clouds provided a little relief from the previous 2 weeks of heat and humidity. This type of weather is hard on not only us humans, but on our gardens as well. If you haven't already done so, perhaps now would be a good time to add some mulch to your garden.

Summer Projects

Now that the nice weather is here, this is the time most people try to get those remodeling projects done. If fixing up your kitchen or bathroom is on your to do list this summer, make sure you choose new appliances and fixtures that meet the Energy Star standards and are water saving. Do your research prior to purchasing. Take advantage of rebates not only from manufacturers, but from utility companies as well. By being an informed consumer, you will not only save money on the initial purchase, but you will continue to save money by lowering your utility bills. You will also be doing your part to help the planet.

If purchasing new appliances isn't in your immediate future, there are still things you can do to save energy. If your refrigerator has an automatic ice maker, turn it off. It saves electricity if you make ice in trays and fill up the ice bucket yourself.

You can make or purchase a solar oven and cook your meals outside by using free sunshine. Or try eating more raw foods, like salads, that need little or no cooking. Have fresh fruit for dessert instead of baking up tempting treats. A favorite at our house is fresh strawberries sliced up over graham crackers, topped with a little freshly made whipped cream. No baking required!

Take showers instead of baths, and keep them short. This not only saves water, but it also saves electricty or propane. By using less hot water, we use less energy, as well as less water. You can use a simple kitchen timer to time yourself. You can also turn off the water all together while you get lathered up and then just turn it back on long enough to rinse off. And don't forget to install a low flow shower head to save even more water. We have them available here at the water district office.

Now is also the perfect time to change out your toilet to a low flow model. We are currently offering a rebate of $100 on low flow toilets and you will save money each month on your water bill as well.

Don't let water run down the drain while you wait for it to get hot. Keep a large stock pot in the kitchen and a bucket in the bathroom to collect the water that would normally run down the drain. That water can then be used for cooking or for watering plants, or even added into the washer. Don't let it just run down the drain. Better yet, install a hot water recycling unit like a Chili Pepper, and get a $100 rebate and instant hot water.

If a new washer is in your future, be sure to check out the front loading models that use about half the water of a top loader. They use less energy, less water and are gentler to your clothes. They come in a variety of sizes to fit most any situation. Many can even be stacked if you are short on space.

There are many options today to lower your energy costs and save water and money. So before you start your summer remodeling projects, do your homework and you will be glad you did.

July already?

As the 4th of July weekend draws near, it is hard to believe that the year is offically half over now. We hope everyone has a pleasant and safe holiday weekend.

The next board meeting will be held on July 8th at 10 am. We hope you are able to attend.

As summer is now in full swing, please continue to monitor your water use and take advantage of our free mulch and water saving kits. If you need more information, feel free to stop in the district office or give us a call. If you have any water saving tips you would like to share with us, please leave a comment. We would love to hear about everyone's ideas for saving water at this time of the year.

We also have lots of blue bird houses ready for pick up. Just stop by the district office as ask for one!

I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream for Ice Cream!

PCWD is handing out free ice cream. You heard right. On Thursday, July 2, 2009, any child that comes into the Pine Cove Water District office between the hours of 1 pm and 4 pm, will receive a free ice cream treat. So bring the kiddies over on the afternoon of July 2nd and get a free treat for them, on us.

Board Meeting

This morning at 10 A.M. is the monthly board meeting. We hope you will join us. To read the minutes from the board meetings and other news and happenings, please visit our website at www.pcwd.org.

BBQ Big Success!

On Saturday, Jerry Holldber gave his annual State of the District presentation at the Pine Cove Property Owners monthly meeting. A tour of the Rocky Point storage facility followed the meeting and then on to the long awaited BBQ lunch, which was held at Dutch Flats. A tour of the Dutch Flats Treatment Plant was also held. Even though the weather was on the cool side, over 50 people attended. Everyone enjoyed a delicious lunch of tri tip sandwiches, potato salad, macaroni salad and a variety of cookies. The food was excellent and the company was wonderful. A good time was held by all. Thank you to everyone who came.

Only 4 More Days!

Mark your calendars. This Saturday, June 6th, is the annual Pine Cove Property Owners Association & the Pine Cove Water District's Annual Presentation & Tour of the Facilities Meeting.

The guest speaker at the PCPOA will be Jerry Holldber, General Manager, PCWD. The meeting starts at 8:30 a.m. at the Pine Cove Fire Station (upstairs). Also included is a FREE LUNCH following the tour. You can call the water district office to RSVP at 659-2675 or stop in the office for more details. We hope to see you there!

Memorial Day Memories

We hope everyone had a memorable holiday weekend. If you have any pictures of local events you would like to share, please send them in! We would like to post pictures of the happenings here in Pine Cove.

Happy Memorial Day

We would like to wish all of our customers, both full time and part time, a safe and happy Memorial Day Weekend. And remember to always turn your water off when you leave your mountain home.

Edible Landscaping

For those interested in more information on Edible Landscaping, you might want to check out the book Edible Landscaping by Rosalind Creasy. Also interesting reading is Eric Toensmeir's Perennial Vegetables. You can also go to edibleforestgardens.com for more information on edible landscaping forest style.

Potager vs Cottage

If you have decided to put in some edible landscaping, you may be wondering where to start. There are a couple of types of gardens that blend edibles with ornamentals. One is an English cottage garden and the other one is a French potager garden. Both can be beautiful and as simple or as grand as you would like. I will try to explain the difference.

The confusion between the two gardening styles are more practical vs esthetic, but borrowing on one another. The French and English had ties through the monarchies and borrowed from one anothers cultures and customs, including gardening and animal husbandry. Modern-day "organic gardening" and "intensive gardening" have their origins in old French gardening practices using companion planting of flowers and herbs with veggies and fruits, composting and keeping small barnyard animals, as well as many other simple and practical gardening-homesteading methods.

Potager is French, basically a kitchen garden, and traditionally was fairly structured in layout, often with potted plants and ornamental structures as well as herbs and flowers. It was separate from purely ornamental gardens, and close to the kitchen (potage itself meant soup). The potager had no association with poverty, as large estates kept them for the household. In France, approximately 23% of the fruits and vegetables consumed are home grown.

The Potager Garden was a designated plot; a special garden wherein was grown veggies & herbs for 'potage' (meaning, any plant you can eat), with flowers that were good companion plants for insect control or to improve the growth and production of the vegetables and herbs, and for attracting bees to pollinate. Many of the flowers were to be eaten, as well, i.e. Calendulas (Pot Marigolds), Nasturtiums, chives, chamomile, peas, and others, even roses. Orchards were often planted nearby for convenience as well as beauty and pollination, as both attract bees.

Potager Gardens could be quite formal (for the wealthy), or not (for the more humble classes). Paths could be paved and plots geometrically layed out and fenced with shrubberies or permanent structures (lovely, formal French manor-style gardens), or as in the provential kitchen "yardens" or small acreages, potage gardens more often had paths of dirt that merely wound casually through informal, asymmetrical plots of this and that. They were more often found right out the kitchen door of the humble French home for easy access and for safety and security.

Potager gardens were designed to be more practical, but not to ever be at the expense of 'esthetic appeal'. Even the practical could be beautiful. Beautiful and fragrant gardens promoted good mental health. It was a chance for some fresh air and sunshine out of dreary, dark, often ill-lit and sometimes dank houses. If your mind was happy & well, your body often was too.

Cottage gardening is English in origin and originally focused on edibles out of necessity. The "cottages" were just that: small houses occupied by people of very modest means, perhaps originally serfs who were allowed to grow for personal use or even market on the small plots allocated to them. Space was at a premium, so things were crammed together to get the most out of the growing space available-- also why cottage gardens include so many trellises, arbors, etc. Most would have had animals as well. Chickens for eggs, a pig for meat, a cow or goats for milk.

Cottage Gardens were designed to utilize a limited space around the home, often the front yard. They were neither formal nor geometrical in design. They seldom utilized perfect symmetry in lay-outs. Dirt or gravel paths that would lead you from one garden area to another, often totally obscured from the view by hedgerows of privet, evergreen, ivy clad rock walls or fences with tall flowers, like hollyhocks, foxgloves, or rambling, climbing roses. Arches and trellising extended the gardens farther into the air, so more could be planted on less ground and they could completely block out their neighbors for more privacy.

This lead to the romantic, flower filled gardens, complete with a rose covered cottage, that we envision today when we hear the term cottage garden. Clearly, the meaning of both has evolved over the years, particularly in the last century, as fewer people in western society depended on what they could produce to eat. Now we often think of the cottage garden as strictly ornamental, a style rather than a necessity; and of the potager as a charming way to grow vegetables in an ornamental setting.

No matter which style of garden you decide will work best for you, remember to amend your soil with lots of organic compost, water deeply and less frequently using drip irrigation or other water wise irrigation, and mulch to retain as much moisture as possible. If you are going to plant a lot of ornamentals, look for native plants that will thrive in our mountain landscape and have low water requirements. If you are going to do a mix of edibles and ornamentals, make sure you plant plants with similiar water and light requirements together, such as roses and tomatoes.

By doing your homework on a plant's light and water needs, you can create a beautiful garden that thrives here on our mountain and provides you with fresh, organic fruits and vegetables and is beautiful to look at as well.

De-Lawning and Edible Landscaping

Here on the hill, lawns are few and far between. However, approximately 40 million acres across the U.S. are covered in lawns. An estimated 238 gallons of fresh water are needed per lawn, per day, to keep them green, making lawns the largest irrigated crop in the nation. To conserve water and decrease your monthly lawn-related expenditures, consider de-lawning a portion or all of your lawn space by replacing your turf grass with an organic garden. This will also give you a lot more to show for your efforts!

But what do you put in it's place you may ask? Why not plant fruits and vegetables? Instead of planting ornamental trees, plant fruit trees. By mixing vegetable plants and ornamental plants, you can create a lovely, lush looking garden with no lawn in site. This is much more productive than just watering a lawn.

Other excellent methods of conserving water include rainwater harvesting—by which runoff rainwater collects in rain barrels and we discussed in a previous post. Also remember that watering your garden deeply encourages deep rooting, and that watering in the evening or early morning cuts down on evaporation, leaving more water for the roots that need it.

Going green with your gardening is physically and mentally rewarding, and it also provides you with an endless supply of the freshest produce and most delicious organic food at the lowest possible cost.

Going Green with Gardening

Does anyone remember the Victory gardens from WW I and WWII? The United States government asked its citizens to plant gardens in order to support the war effort. Millions of people planted gardens. In 1943, Americans planted over 20 million Victory Gardens, and the harvest accounted for nearly a third of all the vegetables consumed in the country that year. Emphasis was placed on making gardening a family or community effort -- not a drudgery, but a pastime, and a national duty.

Over the years, we have gotten away from growing our own fruits and vegetables, however, now is the time to bring that tradition back again. Why plant a victory garden you might ask? Well,
today our food travels an average of 1500 miles from farm to table. The process of planting, fertilizing, spraying with insecticides, processing, packaging, and transporting our food uses a great deal of energy and contributes to the cause of global warming. Planting a Victory Garden to fight global warming would reduce the amount of pollution your food contibutes to global warming. Instead of traveling many miles from farm to table, your food would travel from your own garden to your table.

Having your own garden allows you to provide your family with healthy, organically grown fruits and veggies because you control how it is grown. You can feel good serving food to your family that isn't full of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Plus, our current economic situation is other good reason to start a Victory Garden. Every time that food is shipped from the farm to the store and your table, gasoline is used. As gasoline prices rise, food costs rise. Add to that the freshness factor. What could be tastier than a salad freshly picked from your garden or berries just plucked off the vine?

An organic garden can supply you year after year with fresh and healthy organic food for a fraction of the price you would pay in a grocery store. While establishing an organic garden does take time and patience, there are ways to plan your green garden so that it practically takes care of itself. Let’s dig around and unearth the very best ways for going green with gardening.

As a whole, American homeowners use millions of pounds of fertilizer and pesticides on their lawns and gardens every year. The use of pesticides and inorganic fertilizers is responsible for an alarming toxic buildup of chemicals in our soil and drinking water. Inorganic fertilizers often contain heavy metals and other dangerous ingredients disguised under the term "inert" on product labels. These ‘inert’ ingredients in our garden products are subject to little regulation and yet they abound in our most personal spaces, affecting our health and that of the planet.
A healthy and prolific organic garden takes time and effort to establish, but it teaches the green gardener valuable lessons about patience and provides a new appreciation for the subtle relationships that exist in nature.

Non-organic methods also often produce an effect opposite of the one intended—would-be pest control methods contribute to an increased incidence of pest problems that lead to an endless cycle of even heavier applications of toxic chemicals. Chemical salts and fertilizers cause an initial burst of lush and succulent growth, which is a veritable magnet for pests. Meanwhile the same chemicals are wrecking havoc on the soil below, weakening its natural defenses against pests and disease by discouraging earthworms and beneficial micro-organisms from inhabiting the area.

Healthy Soil

Successful organic gardening begins with healthy soil. By working to create a balanced soil, you naturally reduce the need for pesticides and fertilizers. In healthy soil, nutrients, trace minerals, and helpful fungi are stored in the many organisms living under the ground that can be accessed by your plants as they need them. Compost is a superior alternative to chemical fertilizers because it improves soil structure and texture, allowing the soil to hold more water. Composting also promotes soil fertility and stimulates healthy root development. You can find compost from a local organic supplier or your local recycling center, or you can easily set up a compost bin for a composting operation of your own. Recycling your own garden and kitchen waste can provide you with a rich amendment for your soil at no cost whatsoever, while drastically reducing your contribution to the garbage that goes into the county landfill. The average person throws out 1,500 pounds of trash per year, says Mark Harris, author of Embracing the Earth. This excessive number is reduced to 375 pounds of trash annually when you compost!
Another organic gardening trick for preserving healthy soil is keeping it covered at all times. Sun and water wash away and destroy vital nutrients, harming the soil’s structure. Drastic fluctuations in soil moistness can also slow plants’ growth. Just consider what adding a 3-inch layer of mulch—weathered straw, grass clippings, shredded leaves, bark chips—can do.

Mulching:
Helps keep the soil moist
Conserves water
Discourages weeds
Prevents nutrients from being washed away
Adds humus and nutrients to the soil as the mulch material decays

Avoid using peat in green gardens as peat bogs are an essential part of the ecosystem–taking peat from them destroys valuable wildlife habitats. So many great alternatives to peat are now available that there is no reason to diminish the dwindling peat bog supply and threaten the survival of wildlife species.

Plant foliage also acts as a living mulch by keeping the soil cool and providing shade for underlying plants. You can employ companion planting in your organic garden with plants that have different sun and shade requirements–you’ll be planting shade-loving plants beneath taller shade-providing ones. Gardens planted in this intensive manner conserve soil area and resources and allow green gardeners to take advantage of the chemical and symbiotic interactions between plants. Every plant releases different chemical agents through its leaves and roots that in turn affect plants growing in close proximity. Plants that promote each other’s growth may be planted together to boost the health and productivity of the garden as a whole.

Successful Methods for Organic Gardening

Intensive intercropping, by which one crop is grown between rows of another, has multiple benefits. It maximizes your garden size while minimizing your water and nutrient requirements, allowing you to grow the healthiest plants. Your garden’s immunity to insects is further increased when you plant herbs and flowers—including basil, chives, chrysanthemums, marigolds, and mint—known to help keep pests away. Using disease-resistant and pest-resistant plants, in addition to plants that attract natural predators such as ladybirds, and rotating the crops in your garden also help to deter pests from returning while adding varied nutrients to the soil.

Successive planting allows you a continuous supply of produce throughout the growing season. By timing your crops to provide a constant harvest you keep your organic garden busy and active all season and you save money all year. Planting pollinator-friendly plants such as wild lilac, goldenrod, and lemon balm attracts butterflies, bees, and moths to your garden. Pollinators affect 35 percent of the world’s crop production and are directly linked to the pollination of 87 of the leading food crops. By growing a variety of native flowers that pollinators are drawn to, you positively contribute to the output of food crops worldwide. Planting local species is also important for ensuring the vitality of your garden. Choosing well-adapted plants for your soil, weather, and sun or shade exposure increases plants’ ability to deter pests and requires less effort from you to grow and maintain.

exerpts taken from greenlivingideas.com

Rain Water Catchment System

Now that the warm weather is here, it is the perfect time to set up a rain catchment system. Harvesting rain water is an excellent way to provide water for outdoor irrigation. A 1,000 sq. ft. roof will yield approximately 623 gallons of water from 1" of rain. This winters rain fall total was 21". That would have been a total of 13,083 gallons of water that could have been saved from one roof. Rain water is wonderful for plants and a you can make your system as simple or complicated as you like, depending on your watering needs. To figure out how much water you could save, just multiply the sq. footage of your roof by 623. Then divide by 1000. This will tell you how many gallons of water you could collect from your roof from 1" of rain. It is surprising how much could be saved.

Rain barrels are a great way to collect rainwater and distribute it. You can buy them or make your own from a 55 gallon drum. There are many examples of how to convert a 55 gallon drum to a rain barrel online. It is relatively simple and inexpensive to do. Your system can be as large or as small as you wish. Websites like HarvestH2O.com, provide a wealth of information on rainwater harvesting and rain water storage tanks come in many different sizes.

Watch this blog for other water saving tips and ideas in future posts. We will be discussing things like edible landscaping vs ornamentals, water permable driveways and sidewalks and many other ideas. Please feel free to contact us if you have any ideas you would like to see discussed on this blog.