Bustin’ My Ash on the West Side – Cleaning Up After Another Ash Storm

Across the nation, Christmas means snowflakes on the trees and snow blowers for finding your driveway. This year in Santa Barbara, it means dusty, stinking brown ash and grit on everything. Humbug!

This summer’s Zaca Fire (240,000 acres and a $120 million price tag) has been out for months, but when the weather conditions are right (okay, wrong) winds from the inland areas pick up the months-old ash and carry it over the mountains to the coast. We literally had a taste of it a few months ago, and now we’ve had two dust storms in one week.

I just got in from sweeping my driveway. It’s about 65 ft. by 25 ft. and using an 18” wide broom, I estimate that was about 1.5443 billion strokes (always show your work: 1625 square feet times the square root of my shoe size, allowing for a 4 mph head wind, minus 27 for Celsius = 1.5 billion rounded up).

I think I performed the most environmentally sensitive sweeping that is within my means. I was motivated after watching the maintenance person this morning at La Arcada downtown. For the second time this week, he washed down every square inch of surface in that exquisite (though a bit kitche for my taste) urban shopping paradise with a hose. Water everywhere, eventually running over the sidewalk and into the gutter

On Monday, I watched in brooding silence as he performed his task. I had a great speech going in my head on all the reasons why what he was doing was a terrible thing. Foremost, we don’t have any freakin’ water to spare! 6 inches last “rainy season” and not much to speak of yet this year. Second, all the ash, leaves and who-knows-what would eventually find its way to a storm drain, then into Mission Creek. Huge environmental no-no. Oh yeah, it’s also against the law.

So today, I put on my smiley face, mustered up my assertiveness and we had a civil talk. I already knew his defense, which is the same as most of you dealing with this at your homes. If you sweep, it raises a cloud of dust, which not only chokes you, but most of what you’re trying to get rid of rises into the air, only to resettle again. Blowers are definitely out, and most people don’t have yard vacuums (though they are the coming thing and you might want to investigate them). He listened politely as I spun my tale of environmentally friendly ash kicking. Behold…Here’s what I ended up doing over the weekend and again today.

Step one – grab a hose and an adjustable nozzle and set it on “mist.” Tut, tut, tut – we’re not going to use more than a few gallons.

Step two – make a quick pass over a section of the driveway, barely moistening the surface without creating anything resembling a puddle.

Step three – grab a Stiff Quickie. No, really! (Get your mind out of the gutter. It’s a push broom I bought a few weeks ago at Home Improvement Center. When I read the register receipt I almost lost it. Some brainiac at the broom company named this model the Stiff Quickie, so get back to reading this brilliant set of instructions.)

Step four - start sweeping in short strokes. The barely moist dirt stays on the ground, no dust, no muss, no fuss!!! If you have a planted area nearby, push everything into the bed. It won’t harm your plants as it works into the soil. If you don’t have a bed to sweep into make a pile, pick it up, bag and seal it, and put it in the trash can – don’t want to choke the guys who dump the container, ‘cause this stuff is going to dry out.

If you absolutely have to wash some areas down, wash into a planted area to keep this toxic soup from reaching our water ways. If that’s impossible, try laying out a bundle of straw or an old pair of jeans to intercept as much of the water-borne debris as you can before it reaches the gutter.

So, I got a little exercise, my green credentials are reinforced, my conscience is clear, and my driveway is clean. Ash or not, we are often tempted to wash down surfaces around our homes. Maybe you can keep this in mind next time. I hope so.

Greening Your Kids This Summer

Most kids are out for school for summer and the ‘No More Pencils’ glee that was in full force is probably subsiding. Maybe it’s too soon for the “I’m bored, there’s nothing to do” phase, but wouldn’t it be fun if you had some ideas in your back pocket?

There’s lots of stuff you can do with your kids in the garden while imparting some simple environmental lessons. Here are my top three for grade-school kids:

ONE: Plant something edible. It can be as simple as a leafy herb in a flower pot (quick harvest), a tomato plant in a big tub (takes a few months to bear fruit), or starting some pumpkins for Halloween (talk about patience!).

The key thing is to plan to succeed. So keep it simple and get a little education before your adventure. Visit the children's librarian or a local nursery. And make sure you are vigilant about caring for your new addition.

Payoff: Kids see the connection between plants and harvest, and the value of planning. Lessons abound about protecting ag land, shopping locally at the farmers' market for food that actually tastes like something, and the responsibility of caring for a living thing.

TWO: Plant a tree. Although mid-fall is the ideal time (warm soil and cooling evening temps) many subtropical varieties get off to a great start in these warm days. Have your youngin’ help with some of the decision-making for the right tree. Are you trying to shade an area, screen a view, bring birds to your garden?

Payoff: Use this as an opportunity to talk about passive solar heating – a tree that loses its leaves in the winter allows the sun to warm the house and patio, but creates cooling shade in the summer. Trees also capture and hold carbon in their tissue, so discuss climate change and how little actions can pay big dividends.

THREE: Visit a botanic garden, arboretum or park with diverse plantings. Here in Santa Barbara, that would be our local Bot Garden up Mission Canyon, Alice Keck Park Memorial Garden or a water agency demonstration garden. You and your little one can talk about colors, textures, aromas, shapes, the habitat value of plants for wildlife, and safety.

Payoff: Botanic gardens often have self-guided curriculum you can carry along. Their book stores are loaded with great reading material on natural history and the environment. Some even have camps and classes you can sign up for. Studies show that kids who develop an appreciation for nature early in life become better stewards of the environment.

So, when you hear “there’s nothing to do” you can pull out this little list, get your hands dirty and make some memories. Just do it!