On Saturday, October 12th Daily Acts partnered with four homeowners in Coffey Park to install water-wise and fire safer front yard landscapes for those who were affected by the 2017 wildfires. 65 community members joined the event and volunteered to help implement the landscape templates that were created by multiple architects, designers and the Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership. Each home landscape is modeling one of the template models which includes Native/Adaptive, Eco Edible, Contemporary, and Cottage design.
The day began with an opening ceremony at Schaefer Elementary School, where context was set for the day, an overview of the templates was discussed, and team leads introduced themselves and their involvement in the project. Volunteers then break into groups and walked to their corresponding site. From 10am – 4pm teams worked tirelessly to sheet mulch, plant and install drip irrigation to the landscapes. Prior to this, each site consisted of poor quality fill dirt and debris. Volunteers worked to remove trash and weeds and moved compost on the landscape in order to improve the planting conditions. Plants that were chosen for each design are low to medium water-use and will provide habitat for local fauna and beauty for the homeowners. Irrigation was installed in a particular way that will ensure that each water-use for the plants will be met, and a required weather controller was installed so that the system will turn off when the rains come. Finally, a layer of mulch was added to each site to keep water on the landscape and help ensure the plants survival and ability to thrive.
Many thanks to everyone who partnered with Daily Acts on this project, we truly could not have accomplished this without each and every one of you! Special thank you to the team leads and the SRJC Adult Education Irrigation Class for all of your support and preparation work leading up to the big installation.
