Posted in berkeley, fun things to do with kids, green living, tagged trudy, trudy the corpse flower, UC Botanical Garden, voodoo lily on June 24, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Trudy the Corpse Flower at the UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley bloomed during Monday night, the 22nd of June. I had a chance to visit her today and she’s already started to close up. Then she opens up and her petals fall down, and in about 4-6 months she should have red fruit.
Posted in all, bay area events, berkeley, fun things to do with kids, green living, tagged corpse flower, giant flower, rare plant, titum arum, trudy, trudy the corpse flower, voodoo lily, what to do on father's day on June 18, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting “Trudy the Corpse Flower” at the UC Botanical Garden in Berkeley. Trudy is a member of the Voodoo Lily family (no joke!) and is the largest flowering structure in the plant world. Trudy is 16 years old and currently stands almost 6 feet tall. Her family originates from Sumatra, Indonesia and she first bloomed in the garden at age 12. When she blooms her leaves will open up into one dark red giant flower. Trudy will then warm herself up to human body temperature to create a foul smell to attract beetle pollinators. If pollinated (she will be hand pollinated at the garden) she will then bear beautiful red fruit.
Trudy can be viewed daily and is expected to bloom as early as Father’s Day, June 21st. How appropriate!
Posted in all, bay area events, berkeley, contra costa, green living, natural living, pleasant hill, tagged bicycle cohousing tour, bicycle tour, co-housing, cohousing, cohousing directory, east bay cohousing, pleasant hill cohousing, shared community, US directory of cohousing on June 12, 2009| 1 Comment »
Cohousing is a type of collaborative housing in which the community is planned, owned and managed by the residents. Cohousing residents usually have their own private house or apartment, but then have access to generous shared areas which creates a village like atmosphere. Cohousing fosters community, sharing, green, and economical living.
In Contra Costa County there is a community known as Pleasant Hill Cohousing. Once in awhile there will be a unit for sale, rent or available for house-sitting. Pleasant Hill Cohousing offers free monthly tours of their community; see their website for more information. Currently there is a unit for sale which is a 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath townhome priced at $480,000 plus $9,000 for the carport (separate parcel), total $489,000. If interested contact Joanne Brown: joanne@joannebrown.com.
A new 23-24 unit cohousing community in Berkeley is being formed. 1-2 bedroom flats will be close to everything. For more information visit: East Bay Cohousing (EBCOHO)
There is a Tour de East Bay Cohousing event on Sunday, June 14th from 9 am to 3:30 pm. Cost: $35-45. Bicycle to and explore 6 cohousing locations in the Berkeley/Oakland area.
Interested in cohousing? Search the US Directory of Cohousing for a location near you.
CoCo Earth Moms 