Brad Lancaster Speaking in Santa Monica this Monday

Brad Lancaster

One of creek freak’s heroes is speaking locally this Monday. Brad Lancaster, Tucson-based author of two excellent books on rainwater harvesting, will be speaking at 6:30pm on Monday September 16th at the Santa Monica Main Library, located at 601 Santa Monica Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90401. The free event is hosted by the group Westside Permaculture Gathering. Brad recently began the Drop In A Bucket blog.

As I mentioned to an elite few of you in an earlier blog, Brad’s books are excellent. I especially recommend Volume 2 which is a very clear step-by-step guide for building small and large scale earthworks that slow and infiltrate water in your neighborhood. The methods Lancaster advocates are all very passive – working with nature and gravity – instead of energy-intensive pumping and filtering. They’re also based in his concern for stopping degradation he has observed in Tucson’s Santa Cruz River. This book inspired this creek freak to work with my neighbors to create “las trincheras” – a series of small water-harvesting garden terraces in the front yard of the Los Angeles Eco-Village apartment building where I live. I’ll show off pictures of las trincheras soon right here on this blog.

Thanks to the good folks at the Homegrown Evolution blog for tipping me off to this event. I highly recommend their book, too.

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