Sweetwater Collaborative's first official project was done in two workshops--putting in water harvesting basins and the beginning of a food forest at a residence on the Mesa in June and July 2013. Thanks to all the energetic and caring volunteers who helped to transform this front yard into an evolving lush food production center.
The homeowners had taken out their front lawn a few months before a Sweetwater crew came to visit for the first time. We got them to remove the black plastic as soon as possible, as it kills the organisms in the soil as well as the grass. Before the first workshop we sprayed the yard with compost tea and injected more tea into select areas where we would be digging.
In the first workshop, we dug water harvesting basins to capture roof runoff. We measured the critical elevations with a bunyip (a water level, shown in the second picture), and added gravel and mulch to the completed basins. Our second workshop was a planting extravaganza.
After the workshops, an effective drip irrigation system was added and then a flagstone path was laid in the garden. The result is beautiful! The food forest will continue to grow and evolve as the years go by, more species are added to the mix, and the homeowners begin harvesting! There may be a crop of blueberries this year already.
The last three pictures of the yard were taken 10 months after completion of the project, in April 2014.
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pink flags marked the edges of our basins
Renee demonstrates good planting practices
Planting a Bearss lime tree
We planted a total of 8 trees, 8 edible perennials, and 12 drought tolerant or native plants that day.
The hosts provided delicious, nutritious food for all.
Thanks to those who rode their bikes to the workshop.
This is just the start of a beautiful productive forest garden!
What a welcoming entry!
Trees and plants look happy and will flourish over time.
This was a unique project and a unique workshop. We wanted to do a greywater system from the washer; however, there was no space in the laundry room to put a three way valve because of the exquiisite cabinetry that we did not want to deface. Then we realized that the entrance to the crawlspoace was not far from the washer, and we could put a three way valve at that lower point- only it needed to be a larger valve, and we needed to do a branched drain (gravity fed) installation because we wouldn't be able to use the power of the washing machine pump. So we did. And sent 2" and 1 1/2" greywater pipes to the front yard, along the side of the house, and into the back yard to fruit trees there. Below are the pictures of the story.
The pictures show the back, side and front yards before the greywater installation. Also show is the three-way valve in the crawlspace beneath the laundry room. The workshop volunteers came together and put their shoulders to the wheel, transforming the back yard, and filling the front yard with lots of greywater outlets.
back yard before
Side yard before
front yard before
Here's the three way valve below the laundry room
Breaks are a time to learn more about the big picture of greywater
Getting down and dirty
hands-on learning is the best
Our fearless leader Fred Hunter
First we had to trench it
Then we had to lay it.
The line ended at the fruit trees
The we had to cover it
Branched drain systems are interconnecting.
Close up of the outlets
Hidden greywater hydrates the garden
A second three way valve directs the greywater to the front or back
Through the gate and down the path
The valve sends water to the back or to the front and back down to the side
If you look carefully you can see the valve box covers along the side
This was a complicated system that involved using a 4" pipe as a surge tank before the laundry water dropped into the garden. From the washer we ran the greywater pipe through the wall, in between a flagstone patio, and to the edge of the garage. We laid the 4" pipe alongside the garage, between the house and plants to be watered. From there the greywater connections went into a large valve box so the water could be diverted into various zones. Three Sweetwater instructors did this installation as Dreamscape work crew instead of a workshop. It was a lot of fun putting together. The project was completed in August 2014.
The landscape in which we were working, converted from lawn years ago.
The washer and wall before the install
Greywater piping next to the washer
Piping on outside of house
PVC is converted to polyline to run greywater into the garden
Polyline fits in between the flagstone.
Polyline transitions to 4 inch PVC
Out of the 4 inch pipe and into the valve box
Greywater outlets in the garden
Happy roses and fruit trees get watered with greywater.
We added a greywater system into a lovely pollinator garden in the Samarkand neighborhood, in May 2014. We had to get the pipe through five feet of concrete and into the crawlspace to be able to come out at the part of the garden that needed the greywater--three citrus trees and a Wisteria. The indoor plumbing all that way to the garden was done by Dreamscape before the workshop.
Piping in the laundry room.
Getting started
Uncoiling the polyline for distribution plumbing.
Distribution plumbing getting set up.
digging mulch basins
Preparing flower pots to act as valve boxes
Connecting the collection and distribution plumbing.
We did a complete front yard transformation at a residence on Foothill Road-- lawn to a native and succulent garden with DG as the hardscape wherever there aren't mulch basins or plants. We did this project in two workshops (earthworks and planting) and it was such a complete make over we called the workshops A New Paradigm One and Two. Here are the photos that show the process and the results.
The last two photos show how the landscape looked six months after the project was completed.
front yard before the new paradigm
digging basins is a lot of fun
planting in clay soil
planting continues
just after the workshops
Six months later
A year after the project was completed
This side of the yard is watered by run-on from neighbors that has been directed into basins
Our tank install on the Mesa used half of the roof runoff from a garage to fill a 1300 gallon rain tank while the other half was directed into a raingarden that was also the overflow for the tank. We completed this project in two stages.
Our second greywater workshop on this quiet property near Oak Park directed laundry water from a rental unit to three new fruit trees in the back yard, plus a banana tree that needed tending. A guava, zapote, and passion vine were planted, and the washer water was directed to the four fruit trees.
This workshop was one of two on a property with two homes and room for lots of fruit trees. The front house has a front loader and the washer water was directed to the side yard where we planted four fruit trees. Charlotte herself did the indoor plumbing with the help of a friend.
This was a transformation of two front yards of a duplex. The story started like many, with a lawn. From there, it became magnificent!!
In June of 2015 we did our first earthworks workshop, followed by the second one a month later. Both yards were sheet mulched next. Then planted in the fall, before the start of the rainy season.
The results are magnificent!!
First there was a lawn, two lawns
After the first earthworks workshop
After planting
Mulch basins filled up in the rain
Basins outlined in gypsum on the lawn
Getting started on the basins
Basins starting to take shape
Sheet mulching creates the conditions for the lawn to die
Sweetwater Collaborative, along with Dreamscape, and Youth Drought Project, helped to transform a residence in Carpinteria into a Permaculture Paradise over a period of months in 2015- from the beginning of the year through October. We put in rainwater harvesting basins and a food forest blended with drought tolerant plants. Below is the story of the transformation in photos.
Sweetwater did a collaborative site assessment at this residence in January, 2015. Our first workshop took place in March. Youth Drought Project sheet mulched the yard the next day, to kill the lawn. Dreamscape added irrigation, a flagstone path, transplanted more roses, put in more trees and succulents too. In the summer, Sweetwater had a water harvesting workshop in the back yard. ...and a fall planting workshop in both the front and back.The garden will only get better and better as all the plants grow, mulch breaks down and creates rich soil, water gets to slow, spread and sink into the earth, and flowers and fruit flourish.
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