Interesting email from Natural Home magazine today.

Find a green job today (and get our free e-book!)

Dear Wendy,

The new green economy is here, and it needs people like you!

That’s why Natural Home has launched Great Green Careers. You’ll find green jobs in engineering, sales, environmental health and safety, wind and solar energy, business development, and more. You can search jobs, post your resume and set up email alerts to send jobs directly to you.

PLUS: post your resume and we’ll give you our exclusive guide, Finding a Green Job, absolutely free! Click here to post your resume today.

The economy’s down, but green jobs are up! Great Green Careers has exciting opportunities for solar installers, wind turbine technicians, green sales, mechanical engineers, green construction workers, EHS techs, and much more. So don’t wait – check out Great Green Careers today. And remember – post your resume today and we’ll give you our e-book absolutely free!!

Thanks, and good luck!
Great Green Careers

PS: Don’t forget – our exclusive guide, Finding a Green Job, is yours simply by posting your resume – act today!

Natural Home Magazine, Ogden Publications, 1503 SW 42nd Street, Topeka, KS, 66609

Heard the news from my mortgage guy, Steve Hochhalter, when he stopped by my open house yesterday. But this was on Realty Times this morning, saving me the research.

Washington Report: $8,000 Tax Credit

Home builders and Realtors cheered in Washington last week when HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan announced that FHA will allow lenders and government agencies to “monetize” the $8,000 federal homebuyer tax credit, providing purchasers with downpayment cash upfront, available at closing, rather than waiting for the IRS to mail them a tax credit check.

Read the Full Story

I am holding an open house today, please stop by! Priced at $249k.

Learn About Native Plants with Your Family!

Course ID: ECO-327
Saturday, May 30, 2009 10:00 AM — 2:00 PM
Register Free!

John MacDonald Tolt River Park
Carnation, WA
Directions

Bring your family to enjoy a day outside the city! EOS Alliance, along with the Stilly-Snohomish Fisheries Enhancement Task Force, is hosting a nature walk and ethnobotany workshop. Participants will learn to identify native plants and also learn their medicinal and nutritional values and uses.

If you would like to join us, please remember to dress for the weather and bring comfortable shoes or hiking boots, water, and a sack lunch. We also encourage you to bring any field guide or plant ID book you may have.We will provide coffee, tea and samples of edible plants to snack on!

*We encourage participants to car pool to this event! Please follow the registration link to sign up and get details about car pooling!

To check out other events from EOS Alliance, view our Sustainability Events Calendar!

Today is the anniversary of my adoption of Sophia. I remember a beautiful little Italian greyhound scared of everything. She was not used to the city.

She came home on a Saturday morning. Just like introducing a new cat to the household, I stayed with her in a separate room to bond. We hung out all weekend in the guest room of our former house. I have some interesting pictures of the weird positions I found her sleeping in!

The first 6 months were an adjustment – she always kept close to me but I didn’t feel she was bonded to me until several months passed. She would do what I asked her but it seemed she always had a suspicious “what’s in it for me?” agenda lurking in the background. A switch seemed to be thrown at some point, tho, and she went everywhere she could with me because SHE wanted to, not because I asked her to.

Never did I think I would be in a position of being able to take her to work every day. Here she is this morning coming back to the front office after a visit to her water dish in the conference room. She is leashed to my desk most of the time since we are on busy Greenwood Avenue and we have a lot of visitors. But we go for walks and I know she’s not peeing on my carpet at home. I started in the position of managing the Front Office at GreenWorks in February. I was excited at the time because I envisioned long breaks in the middle of the day to walk around Greenlake. Hasn’t happened yet. But it’s been raining or snowing ever since we started here so it is not exactly our fault.

Sophia has had a lot of companionship since she joined my household. In 2005-06 I was working part time doing marketing for some loan officers at a mortgage company on the Eastside. So I didn’t feel too bad leaving her at home, since I wasn’t ever gone more than 6 hours. I tried taking her to doggy daycare to socialize her. I took her to Seattle Canine Club by Safeco Field since it was essentially at the foot of the on-ramp to I-90. It was reported that she spent the entire day (all 5 hours of it) looking for me. She was a shy dog so couldn’t be with the big romping canines. And could not be caged either. When they put her in the exercise pen with the other small dogs she just jumped right out of it, in her typical gazelle-like fashion. After the third visit and some studying up on “separation anxiety” I determined she did NOT have true separation anxiety since she did not destroy things in the house and she did not hurt herself. She began getting great naptime at home in the sun.

In 2006 I went independent and worked for a real estate broker that did relo work at SeaTac Airport and road projects elsewhere. She didn’t mind my bringing Sophia to work, but I often did not since I never knew what I was going to be doing that day and if it was sunny I would have an issue with leaving the dog in the car. I also worked out of a portable building at SeaTac Airport and they were dog friendly until they began acquiring Town & Country Mobile Home Park just south of the airport and we had too many guests in the building and they made a no-dog rule.

Sophia has just updated her blog, called “Paws for a moment”, with the rest of this story. There are also come fun pictures of her in her photo album.

I knew that Title would get your attention! Read on…

Note to West Seattle Residents – Councilmember Richard Conlin will be at the next Delridge District Council meeting, Wed., May 20th, 7pm, at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, 4408 Delridge Way SW. He will have more information about the City’s Food System Initiative to promote urban food production and healthy living.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 12, 2009

Contacts:
Rob Gala, Conlin Office, (206) 684-8805
Kimberly Reason, Council Communications, (206) 684-8159

Councilmember Richard Conlin

CITY DROPS FEES FOR FOOD GARDENING IN PLANTING STRIPS Department of Transportation moves to help reduce costs and encourage food gardens

SEATTLE – In another victory for the Local Food Action Initiative, City Council President and Environment, Emergency Management and Utilities Committee Chair, Richard Conlin, has convinced SDOT and Mayor Nickels to drop fees for food gardens grown in planting strips.

In previous years, many residents had been told that growing food in planting strips was not allowed. In reality, such gardens were permissible within SDOT safety guidelines, but discouraged by the department. In 2008, Conlin requested that SDOT clarify and communicate those guidelines to the public and shift to encourage planting strip gardens. The new modified rules are the result of that request.

The changes are one of many steps that Council, through the Local Food Initiative, is taking to encourage Seattle residents to plant vegetables and other edible foods. Council President Conlin said, “The new rules will make it easier for people to grow their own food in Seattle. Gardening in front yards and planting strips is a great way to build community. I’m pleased that SDOT was able to meet our objective of increasing local food production in a way that does not compromise transportation safety.”

In response to requests by the Council and community, SDOT and the Mayor had proposed rule changes that would require fees and permits for food gardens. However, Conlin, author of the Local Food Action Initiative, consistently advocated for fees to be dropped in order to reduce costs for those seeking to grow their own food. Council also requested that SDOT educate citizens about these modified rules to encourage food gardening.

Today, SDOT delivered its report to Council on these changes, which will make it easier to Seattle residents to participate in food gardening. The changes include:

● Allowing food gardening activities that meet set-back and height requirements;
● Eliminating the need for most food gardeners to obtain Street Use permits;
● Providing free Street Use permits for tree planting and hardscape installations.

Planting strip height requirements include maintaining plantings so that they do not exceed two feet in height within 30 feet of intersections. For driveways, plants within ten feet of driveways shall be clear of sight obstructions between 32 and 82 inches high from the ground. In addition, plants should be set back three feet from curbs, one foot from the edge of the sidewalk, and five feet from utility poles or fire hydrants. More information on height and set-back requirements is available in the Seattle Right-of-Way Improvements Manual at http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/rowmanual/.

Conlin’s Local Food Action Initiative is currently working with several community organizations to secure federal money for a variety of projects focused on providing healthy food to low-income residents through gardening, education, and outreach to neighborhood corner stores. The Initiative also includes a request to the Department of Neighborhoods to make recommendations on what publicly-held lands can be converted for the use of local food production.

Council meetings are cablecast live on Seattle Channel 21 and Webcast live on the City Council’s website at www.seattle.gov/council. Copies of legislation, archives of previous meetings, and news releases are available on www.seattle.gov/council. Questions about Council news releases can be directed to Kimberly Reason, Council Communications, at 206-684-8159, or by e-mail at kimberly.reason@seattle.gov.

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For Immediate Release: May 11, 2009
Contact: Alex Fryer, (206) 684-8358 or (206) 941-5931 (cell), alex.fryer@seattle.gov

Mayor Nickels Announces New Rules for Gardening in Planting Strips New procedures to encourage more gardening citywide

SEATTLE – Mayor Greg Nickels today announced improvements to make gardening in planting strips easier for Seattles residents. The new planting strip policy, issued by the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), eliminates any permit requirements for gardens and ends fees previously required for hardscape improvements, such as planter boxes or pavers.

This change makes it easier to plant flowers and vegetables in the strip between the sidewalk and the street. For many gardeners, thats prime space, said Nickels. Its one of the things that makes Seattle special, and, with planting season upon us, its time to get those green thumbs going.

Under the new rules announced today, residents no longer need to obtain a $225 permit for hardscape improvements, such as raised gardens or stepping stones. Instead, they can obtain a free online permit for these improvements and to plant a tree at: http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/stuse_permits_online.htm

SDOT has updated its Web site with information explaining the rules:
http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/stuse_docs.htm

To ensure public safety and protect city infrastructure, they also provide guidelines for making planting strip improvements.

Get the Nickels Newsletter and the mayors inside view on transportation, public safety, economic opportunity and healthy communities. Sign up at mayor.seattle.gov

Obviously I have been sleeping at the wheel this week. It is one of my favorite times of year – when the native Bleeding heart flower blooms and smells so sweet (Dicentra formosa). I have some in containers on my back deck, they’ve been there almost two years now since I moved from my old 1/4 acre lot to a townhome with a 200 sq ft deck.

Governor Gregoire proclaimed May 3-May 9, 2009 as Native Plant Appreciation Week in Washington. More info from the Washington Native Plant Society web site:

This week is a celebration of the amazing diversity of Washington’s over 3000 native plant species that inhabit deserts, rain forests, high alpine environments, river valleys, and even backyard landscapes. Native plant ecosystems are critical to sustaining our native wildlife and the quality of
Washington’s environment.

The Native Plant Appreciation Week inspires citizens through diverse activities and events to learn more about native plant species and their habitats and how to protect them. The public can participate in everything from talks, walks, hikes, garden tours, and visits to our natural areas to active involvement in habitat restoration projects.

and

Native Plant Appreciation Week is primarily an opportunity to celebrate our native floral abundance, our amazing bio-diversity, and all the good work being done to protect and preserve it.

Seek out native plants at plant sales in your area – going on every weekend all over the region right now. They are designed to withstand your local environment. And with proper care they can be kept in containers. In the Northwest that means on a north facing deck that receives shade most of the day. Some plants can withstand more sun exposure. Think about where that plant originally came from and try to mimic it. Many plants grow under trees in the woods – which means they are in the shade most of the time.

Neighorhood House under construction in High Point (West Seattle, WA) has a short video on YouTube. I walk by the site every day and am really looking forward to its opening.

Read more about the project

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvM_zBdZQUE]