LEED Platinum

The Design-Build team (of which I am a part) at Habitat For Humanity are very proud and honored by this certificate. We have created beautiful, energy efficient homes for hard-working, low income people. This house that was awarded Platinum in the LEED Certification still has a credit on their energy bill of $50.00 after nine months of living in the house - and full use of the heat and air during the summer and winter months!

Hey Look! Sunset just came out with a new soft cover book. It's in grocery stores and on the newsstands until May. It recaps a lot of great ideas from the last few years - from vertical gardens, creating herb beds and before and afters...and they included both of my previous articles. One is of my house and getting rid of the lawn and the other is about a side yard renovation. It's $10.00. Check it out!

Habitat For Humanity

Last night was the 17th Annual Hammy Awards (after 'Grammy') put on by Habitat For Humanity. It's always a lovely and moving event and I am so happy to be a part of it. During the course of the evening Francisca Flores spoke to the large room. She is a recipient of a Habitat Home. Since moving in over 8 months ago, she still has a credit on her SMUD bill of a little over $50.00. Her home and the homes that we work on are energy efficient, and Francisca's home is a Platinum - LEED certified home.

Francisca Flores told her story of how she had her first job at the age of 6 years old in Mexico. She eventually married and had 6 children. Her husband was an abusive man and would not permit her to work, only to stay home and take care of the children. They divorced after 20 or more years, and Francisca was left with her children (3 of whom were now out of the house) and the other 3 with whom she lived with in a 1 bedroom apartment. Two of the younger children slept with her in her bed and the older boy slept of the sofa. Being untrained, Francisca found a job doing janitorial work. Eventually she went to work with K-Mart up in Grass Valley. Over time, with her hard work and dedication, she was made a manager of her department. Working full time and raising her children, Francisca went to school. I forgot which community college, but she studies in the evening and is working on her degree. With all of this, she still put in the 500 'Sweat Equity' hours that is required to qualify for a Habitat Home. While she stood before us in the hall, she started to cry as she told us how she felt when she received the keys to her new home...it was so moving.

Dan Wilson, who is the head of building and the head of our Green building 'Charette' introduced me to the room, kindly saying that he couldn't say enough about me. He said that since I started working with them I had not charged them a dime. When you hear the stories of the families that have worked so hard and suffered so much in the way of trials and tribulations, but always went forward with their hopes and their dreams, creating a landscape design is not about being paid with money; it's about the joy I receive knowing that I can contribute in some way.

Spring is almost here...I have changed my vegetable garden over to a flower/herb garden due entirely to my new family of cats!

2011 Home & Garden Expo

The 2011 Home & Garden Expo was a hit! This year I took on the challenge of designing a 50'x20' demonstration garden, and the crews - Jeff Abdallah with Sacramento Valley Landscape and Roger Pajo with Creativescapes put it all together.

A very big thank you to Theodora from Green Living Design Solutions for lending me and bringing up the beautiful copper cut-work panels from Parasoleil; they were truly the hit of the show. I believe Sacramento was introduced to them in a big way! (To see more go to: www.greenlivingdesignsolutions.com)

Another thank you to Emigh Casual Living for lending their fabulous outdoor furniture. I used a set from Gloster that was also show stopping! Lara Hawthorne from Sierra View Nursery is, as always, the best - and her plant stock wonderful! Cascade Rock...you guys...I don't know where Sacramento would be without you! I have been working with them for over 12 years. Their rock selection is great and their service is even better! Green Acres supplied the beautiful pottery and the fountain.

Delta Blue Grass came through with a no-mow, native grass. Absolutely beautiful. A lawn that you can mow or now and takes 50% less water than a normal lawn!

Thank you everybody!

Free Home & Garden Show Tickets!

The Home & Garden Expo is coming up - January 28th, 29th & 30th. This year we will be given tickets in December so they can be sent out with Christmas cards...so, if you’d like tickets to the show (one tickets admits two), please email me with the number of tickets that you would like and I’ll be happy to send them.

2010 Volunteer Spirit Award

I am the very proud recipient of the 2010 Volunteer Spirit Award! I was nominated by Habitat For Humanity and the award was given in the category of the Environment. I do the landscape designs for all of the new Sacramento Habitat Homes - Pro Bono. This is very rewarding work. The homes that we have built this year have all been LEED certified (Leadership in Environment and Energy Design). Our house have made Gold and the last two, Platinum - the highest level. The landscapes are all no-lawn and drought tolerant. Our ‘charette’ or group that designs and builds these homes just won the National Green Building award. We are very proud.

I strongly urge folks to go to the Sacramento Habitat for Humanities website and find out when their tours are (generally once a week). You will learn about what the families need to do to qualify, you’ll learn about the families that have been chosen for the Homes - there stories are amazing and moving. You’ll also get a tour of the Habitat Re-Store - a great resource for finding building materials and other odds and ends cheap!

Also, a word about VolunteerCenter of Sacramento: they have many programs that allow people to get involved in our community be it with animals, our parks, food banks or even assisting in giving birthday parties to children that live in shelters and have never had the opportunity to have a party. You can find them online at info@volunteersac.org or call: (916) 567-3100

Regarding energy efficient homes: Did you know that SMUD was given a Federal grant of several millions dollars to give in rebates for Homeowners to retrofit their homes to make them more efficient? The call the program the Home Performance Program and you can qualify for up to $5,000.00 in Rebates. You start with selecting a contractor. There is a list of approved contractors on SMUD’s website:www.smud.org/rebates or call them at 1-888-742-7683 ext. 18.