Category Archives: Nature
Look who’s on Hillcrest
Berkeleysider Lee Aurich sent in some vivid photos of a family of barn owls roosting in a palm tree on Hillcrest Road in the Claremont Uplands neighborhood.
(We thought “Hoo’s on Hillcrest?” would be a great headline, but birders know that barn owls don’t hoot, they shriek.)
Do other Berkeleysiders have families of owls in their yards? Let us know.
Meet Dorothy Hearst and the wolves who inspire her
Wolves have not run wild in California for more than 75 years, but that hasn’t prevented Berkeley author Dorothy Hearst from imagining a world populated by them. In her first book, Promise of the Wolves, and in her just-released sequel, Secrets of the Wolves, both set 14,000 years ago, Hearst weaves a tale about Kaalaa, a young wolf who tries to end the divide between humans and her kind.
To celebrate the release of the second book … Continue reading »
Book details secret staircases of Berkeley and Oakland
Staircases saved Charles Fleming’s back.
In 2006, as he faced his third invasive spinal surgery, Fleming decided to walk. A longtime Los Angeles resident with a slew of best-selling books to his name, Fleming had his wife drive him down from their hilltop home in the Silver Lake district to the flats. He got out and took a few steps, which led to a few more, which led him to start walking up and down the public staircases that meander through that city’s hills. Soon the pain was gone and Fleming was a walking convert.
The excursions led to Fleming’s next bestseller, a book on the secret stairs of Los Angeles. It proved so popular that he decided to write a sequel, this time about the secret stairs of the East Bay. … Continue reading »
Accessible beds help Kenny Cottage gardens thrive
Ripe berries and peapods thrive at Berkeley’s Friends of Kenney Cottage Community Garden. The nearly three-year-old communal farming project is booked solid with plot holders in the middle of west Berkeley’s industrial district.
Two beds at the front of the garden particularly stand out. Elevated just above three feet and standing atop a beautiful hardwood deck, these beds are in place for the neighborhood’s disabled.
The raised beds lead the way in ADA accessibility, said Gary Cromp, the president of the gardens.
“We have cutting edge technology that’s never been used in a community garden,” he said. “We also have two of the country’s only truly wheelchair-accessible beds and gardens, and they’re completely filled with plot holders.”
The raised vegetable beds are at the perfect elevation for standard and powered wheel chairs, Cromp said.
“They’re also reinforced,” he said, kicking hard at a table leg to demonstrate. “Power chairs can destroy everything, so that’s just another thing we thought of here.”
The beds are accessible on all sides—with 5 feet of space at each side—and come complete with lightweight watering wands that quadriplegics can easily use. Kenney Cottage Community Gardeners partnered with Berkeley’s Center for Independent Learning (CIL) to design these features.
Shira Leeder, the ADA coordinator for Friends of Kenney Cottage Community Garden and a member of CIL, helped Cromp draw up the high-tech beds. Leeder, who is a person with disabilities, said the beds’ height and design make gardening a breeze.
“It’s pretty easy for me to use,” Leeder said, turning on the water and demoing the watering wand. “Everything is level for me.”
The beds not only make it easy to garden, but they also serve as a way for people with disabilities to play an active role in the neighborhood, she said. … Continue reading »
Strong, sculptural trees bring a sense of community
By Robert Trachtenberg
Despite the fact the calender says that it is spring, we all know that is still feels like winter. The bloom season for many trees such as Flowering Crabapples has been shortened with all of this rain. So I found myself focusing on the structural beauty of trees and how they help create a strong sense of identity in our community.
A planner who favors edible, eco education — and risks
In the course of her travels researching her new book Asphalt to Ecosystems: Design Ideas for Schoolyard Transformation, Sharon Gamson Danks was struck by two things: First, the United States is a world leader in school food gardens and Berkeley is firmly at the epicenter of that movement.
And second, the U.S. lags far behind other countries when it comes to building green schoolyards with eco-friendly aspects beyond a produce patch — in other words spaces that encourage play with potential risk. We’re talking less asphalt and metal structures, and more nature nooks and shaded ponds.
An environmental planner, Danks and landscape architect Lisa Howard run Bay Tree Design in Berkeley, which specializes in designing ecological outdoor play spaces. They incorporate ideas Danks picked up from her playground adventures overseas. … Continue reading »
Rain, rain go away?
With more torrential rain today, it seems like March has been an unending downpour. This morning’s rain supplemented already high creeks in Berkeley and if your street’s storm drain was clogged, you’re certain to have serious flooding problems. But we’re not out of the rain quite yet.
“There will be another system moving through in the next couple of days,” Bob Benjamin, a forecaster with the National Weather Service, told Berkeleyside. “It won’t be quite as windy or quite as stormy. By Sunday it should be better.” … Continue reading »
Hail yes
Berkeleysider Alan Tobey used Berkeleyside’s iPhone app last night to send us photos of “the largest hail I’ve ever seen” in Berkeley. Tobey took the photo in the Westbrae neighborhood.
Shortly after, Alina Constantinescu sent us a startling photo of Solano Avenue after the hail. Her comment: “The weather (or maybe the season?) changed while we enjoyed a plate of pasta.”
In the Elmwood there was no hail but torrential rain and ominous thunder.
Did your part of Berkeley … Continue reading »
Lucky Dog pet store is shut down
The owner of Lucky Dog pet store lost his bid to keep his San Pablo Avenue store open for a few days longer so he could find homes for the chickens, pigeons, fish, turtles, rabbit, and guinea pig he had for sale.
After a judge in Alameda County Superior Court refused to grant an extension, Bobby Rostam stayed up all night on Wednesday clearing out his space at 2154 San Pablo in anticipation of getting locked out of the building by the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department at 6:01 am today.
Rostam managed to find homes for most of the animals except the chickens and pigeons, he said. He had been planning to transfer them to his home and had started to construct a foundation for the coops, but was informed by the property manager that he would be charged $115 a day for every day the birds remained on the premises, he said. … Continue reading »
Closure of Lucky Dog pet store puts animals at risk
A dispute over rent and repairs has prompted a landlord to evict the Lucky Dog pet store from its home on San Pablo Avenue, putting the lives of dozens of animals at risk.
The Alameda County Sheriff’s Department is scheduled to arrive at 2154 San Pablo Avenue at 6:00 am Thursday to take over the property, even though Bobby Rostam, the owner of Lucky Dog, doesn’t yet have a home for the chickens, pigeons, birds, rabbits, turtles, guinea pig, and fish that currently live in the store.
Rostam and his attorneys are asking Alameda County Superior Court for a 10-day reprieve, and they should know the results late on Wednesday.
“I have a bunch of chickens,” Rostam said Wednesday as he oversaw a close-out sale of his store. “I don’t know what I am going to do with them.”
“This is one of the last old-style pet stores in Berkeley,” said Rostam. “I have little customers coming here. The kids really love it. If I leave, there’s nothing for them.”
Rostam, whose legal name is Behrouze Rostampouir, said the trouble began when Mary Pagones, the landlord, refused to make repairs to the store. Water leaked through the roof and skylights, damaging his products and sending chunks of plaster to the floor.
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