On the Ranch

It’s that time of year – when all I want to do is enjoy the long days and warm evenings in my backyard with friends. The work that goes into an enjoyable backyard gets full compensation for the time spent lounging in it. I’ve looked into some unique ways of making the backyard activities as green (and as fun) as possible. Here are a few:

1.  Why mow when you can peddlemow?

The alternative to the gas or electric powered mower has always been the hand mower, but recently creative individuals have turned their daily commute into a mowing machine.

2.  Solar Burger

We all know that the “charcoal briquettes with combustible lighter fluid” grilling method is somewhat passé and emits more carbon monoxide into the air. Now, with propane, electric and even solar powered grills, you can reduce your footprint and still enjoy an outdoor BBQ.

* Don’t forget that grilling leaner meats can reduce the carcinogens that get released from the fat when grilling at high temps.

3.  Repel naturally

Use DEET-free repellents and avoid the harmful chemical that has been linked to neurological problems in children. Although you may need to apply more frequently, natural bug repellents are safe, kid-safe, and a good habit to get into.

• While grilling, throw sage or rosemary on the rack to repel mosquitos.
• Try mixing one part garlic juice to five parts water in a small spray bottle. Shake well and spray lightly on exposed body parts for an effective repellent lasting up to six hours. Strips of cotton cloth can also be dipped in this mixture and hung in areas, such as patios, as a localized deterrent.

Try an herbal repellent, found in stores and online such as Burt’s Bees Herbal Insect Repellent.

When having friends and family over for backyard fun, think about how much waste can be accummulated from paper plates, napkins and plastic cups. Invest in cloth napkins, earth friendly, recyclable or washable plates, cups and silverware and limit the waste. Buy locally, recycle bottles and cans and compost what you can.

Cheers!
scrowley@kileyranch.net

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We are very excited to announce the first harvest of 2008 for the Kiley Ranch Garden! Last week, we were able to donate four large bags of Swiss Chard to the Food Bank in Northern Nevada just in time to take advantage of the huge cooler space in their brand new facility! Other crops that will be ready for harvest in upcoming weeks are beets, beans, cucumbers, squash, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, and corn…and once again we will have pumpkins available for food bank doantions in October. Check back for more details.

If you would like to get involved with the Kiley Ranch Food Bank Garden, feel free to email abarnes@kileyranch.net for more information.

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Motrists traveling on Pyramid Highway have noticed large earth-moving equipment along the west side of the highway across from the Kiley Ranch development.

The work is part of roadway improvements that will widen Pyramid Highway and “acommodate future traffic issues and increase safety on the Pyramid Highway in Spanish Springs,” said a press release from Kiley Ranch.

Work began during the first week of June and is expected to continue for several months.

“Appropriate access from Pyramisd Highway into Kiley Ranch is vital,” said Paul Curtis, Kiley Ranch Communities CEO, in the news release.”

“It has to be done in a safe fashion with an eye toward future traffic conditions. We’ve worked closely with Washoe County, the city of Sparks and with RTC to comply with NDOT’s requirements to improve and meet state and national standards for safety capacity on Pyramid Highway.”

In cooperation with RTC and the city of Sparks, Kiley Ranch has set aside approximately 25 acres of prime commercial land for the future construction of a potential freeway along Pyramid Highway.

Immediate improvements to Pyramid Highway will include:

• Widening Pyramid Highway to add deceleration and acceleration lanes for ingress and egress to the commercial portions of Kiley Ranch.
• Intersection safety improvements at Lazy 5 Parkway – such as dual left turn lanes and infrastructure for a traffic control signal.
• Installation of center lane median islands from Sparks Boulevard to Dolores, with a break at Lazy 5 Parkway. This will eliminate conflicts from left turns on Pyramid Highway, and is a safety and capacity mitigation initiative.
• Landscaping.

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If you are a frequent reader of the Kiley Ranch blog, you have undoubtedly caught one of Stacey’s informative and insightful “Green Byte” posts. If not, you should definitely make it a point to read one or two…or ten.  You may not know that aside from serving as the Kiley Ranch Director of Environmental Initialtives, Stacey possesses many other qualities that make her an outstanding candidate to receive this honor.  Stacey sits on the board of the Nevada Land Conservancy, Scenic Nevada, Reno Tahoe Young Professionals’ Network, and the Kiley Ranch Preservancy Foundation. She was a 2005 Scenic Nevada “Hero”, won a 2007 “20 Under 40″ award, vice-chaired the Truckee Meadows Growth Task Force and chaired Nevada’s first Governor’s High Performance Building Summit. Stacey is a graduate of the University of Michigan and received a masters from the University of New Mexico. She is an architect, a LEED Accredited Professional, and is the Director of Master Planning and Environmental Initiatives for Kiley Ranch. She was an All-American swimmer in college but now spends her free time cycling and skiing with her husband, Tim.

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The 2008 Sparks Chamber of Commerce Scholarship Luncheon, sponsored by Kiley Ranch Communities, was held on May 15th at John Ascuaga’s Nugget. In memory of the late Sparks Mayor, Tony Armstrong, this luncheon was a well attended success. Six students from the three high schools located in Sparks received the traditional Tony Armstrong Scholarship for $500 each year of their education and renewable up to four years.

Each student was invited on stage to receive recognition certificates and proceeded to inform the audience about which university they would be attending, their education goals, and how they intended to use the Tony Armstrong Scholarship money.

Education outreach and community involvement is very important to Kiley Ranch Communities who also participates in the Education Collaborative of Washoe County. As education partners with Miguel Sepulveda Elementary School located on Ion Drive in the Spanish Springs Valley, Kiley Ranch Communities presented Principal Debbie Martino with a $500 donation check to be used towards the immediate needs for student education.

The luncheon speaker, Washoe County School District Superintendent Paul Dugan, spoke about the funding challenges the school district currently faces. He explained that a large percentage of the school district funds are derives from property taxes and local school support taxes. Washoe County School District continues to look for ways to maximize efficiency while trying to meet the community needs.

Kiley Ranch Communities congratulates this year’s scholarship recipients and wishes them continued success with their education goals!  

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Thank you to everyone who came out on Saturday to help us plant the Kiley Ranch Food Bank Garden. We are very excited to be able to donate fresh vegetables to the Food Bank! If you would like to volunteer in the garden to pull weeds and help us harvest we would love to have you. Please contact abarnes@kileyranch.net to sign up for a week or for further information.
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

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The Nevada Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup awards were announced at a fundraising dinner on Friday, April 25th. Seven out of nine awards were given to students whose ideas were focused on sustainable living, alternative energy and waste reduction. Seven out of nine! Student teams from around the state are encouraged to develop viable business plans that would make it in the real world. The winners receive a cash prize as well as chance to win at a tri-state competition between Arkansas, Oklahoma and Nevada in May. The Governor’s Cup is presented by Nevada’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology.

A quick glimpse at some winners….

• 1st Place Undergraduate – WATTs – Waste Alternatives Transformation Technologies (UNLV)
  By utilizing a multi-faceted approach that maximizes usable products extracted from municipal, commercial and industrial waste, WATTs will reduce the ecological burden on traditional landfills while producing clean, sustainable energy and energy products that do not rely upon fossil fuel sources.
• 3rd Place Undergraduate – KG BioSolutions (Sierra Nevada College)
  KG BioSolutions is a company offering a self-sufficient co-gen product marketed towards restaurants. The fully automated system will process crude vegetable oil at the push of a button and then burn processed biodiesel in an industrial generator providing supplemental electricity to the restaurant on location.
• 2nd Place Graduate – Go Green Outdoors (UNR)
  Go Green Outdoors, LLC connects people to green culture, green businesses and a green way of life. We are an online resource for green culture news, information and conversation. We provide daily updates of environmental and outdoor recreation news as well as a guide to green products and services.
• 3rd Place Graduate – More Water Company (UNR)
  More Water Company uses Atmospheric Water Generation technology to produce drinking water from the air. The company will produce water regionally to sell into local markets diminishing the reduction of natural resources such as lakes and streams and reducing pollutants caused by transportation.
• Lt. Governor’s Award Winners Graduate Winner – Bio-Grounds LLC (UNR)
  Bio-grounds LLC is turning waste streams to profit streams. Our company uses spent coffee grounds to produce high quality eco-friendly and low cost biodiesel.

In other news, the American Institute of Architects and the Committee on the Environment (COTE) announced the winners of the 2008 top ten best examples of sustainable architecture last week. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to see that nine out of ten winners were academic or learning based projects. History shows that most innovation comes out of the academic environment and more and more students are coming to expect sustainable design as the norm for their environments. Universities are listening and setting the bar for other public projects.

Here is a quick summary and link of the winners’ projects.

• Aldo Leopold Legacy Center – The Kubula Washatko Architects, Inc., Cedarburg, WI
  The Center was envisioned as a small complex of structures organized around a central courtyard. This design provides flexibility in the managing energy use based on program requirements, creates outdoor spaces for work and gathering, and reduces the scale of the buildings on site. The Aldo Leopold Legacy Center is the first building recognized by LEED as carbon-neutral in operation.
• Cesar Chavez Library – Line and Space, LLC, Tucson, AZ
  In order to protect the outdoor and indoor space from the sun’s radiation, the building uses extensive overhangs to create a ‘hat’ in the desert. The scarcity of water led to roof top rainwater collection for irrigation, while water reducing fixtures are used indoors.
• Discovery Center at South Lake Union – The Miller/Hull Partnership, Seattle, WA
  A primary program element for this particular center, alongside numerous other environmental goals, was to create a building and core that could provide adaptable exhibit space, capable of being reconfigured and reused for the presentation of multiple residential neighborhoods throughout the South Lake Union Region over a lengthy period of time.
  
  Photo credit: Lara Swimmer Photography
• Pocono Environmental Education Center – Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Wilkes-Barre, PA
  The building is a flexible, multi-purpose gathering space for dining, meetings, lectures and other environmental learning activities. As part of the site design, native grasses were planted to provide a landscape that is low maintenance and integrates the project into its natural surroundings.
  
  Photo credit: Nic Lehoux
• Garthwaite Center for Science and Art, Cambridge School of Weston Architerra, Inc., Boston, MA
  The facility is designed to advance sustainability, creating an exemplar and educational tool through a design process that engaged the entire community. Fifty-five detailed sustainability goals included renewable energy, no water to be discharged to the local sewer, 100% storm water infiltration on-site, artificial lighting designed to less that one watt per square foot and minimal maintenance for 20 years.
• Lavin-Bernick Center for the University Life-VJAA, Minneapolis, MN
  The exisiting building was stripped to the concrete frame, expanded by 33% and redesigned with a variety of environmental systems. Despite its high ambitions, the project had a modest budget and was completed for $189/sf, fourteen months after Hurricane Katrina. Since then, Tulane sees the project as a new model for sustainable design in New Orleans.
• (only project not academic in nature) Macallen Building Condominiums – Office dA Inc. and Burt Hill Inc., Boston, MA
  In looking to the future, the garden has propelled itself into the front ranks of its field as the first botanical garden in the country devoted to sustainable environmental stewardship. A water channel surrounds the building and weaves through the garden, fed by rainwater that cascades off of the sheltering roof canopy.
• The Nueva School, Hillside Learning Complex – Leddy Maytum
  Stacy Architects, San Francisco, CA
  The 33-acre campus, located in the semi-rural coastal hills of the San Francisco Peninsula, features a thriving coast live oak woodland ecosystem, a variety of dispersed structures and dramatic views of San Francisco Bay. The design is grounded in the desire to integrate straightforward, appropriate and cost-effective sustainable design solutions within the broader language of contemporary architectural expression.
• Yale University Sculpture Building and Gallery – KieranTimberlake Associates LLP, Philadelphia, PA
  Situated on the former brownfield site, the new complex is comprised of three new buildings. To provide maximum daylight and exceptional energy efficiency, a wall system was designed that incorporates solar shading, a triple glazed low-e vision panel, 8-foot high operable windows and a translucent double cavity spandrel panel.
  
  Photo credit: © Peter Aaron, Esto

Keep learning!
Stacey Crowley, Director of Master Planning and Environmental Initiatives – scrowley@kileyranch.net

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Spring is in the air (well, mostly) this month so we are focusing on how to prep your garden for the finest organic fruits and veggies. There are tips from many great sources but these are my picks.

Soil Prep: Don’t be so hasty you don’t work the soil until it is dry enough. (Tip from Organic Gardening: grab a handful of soil and clamp down to form a ball. If the soil crumbles when you release, it should be ready to go. If it stays in clumps, it’s too wet.) Work the soil just enough to reinvigorate it. Then, add organic content (such as compost, etc).

Image from: flower-gardening-made-easy.com

When to plant the seed: Next, understand what crops need what kind of soil temperature and when they should be planted. Different vegetable crops require different soil start temperatures for their optimal growth. See the Farmer’s Almanac for seed start dates int eh Reno/Sparks area. Plant peas, radishes, and turnips now, early next month move to beets, potatoes and swiss chard, and so on.

Image from: northcarolinatravels.com

Water management: Maintaining a consistent level of water in the soil around plants will ensure a more successful and healthy crop. Extreme periods of drought or over watering can do damage.

• Water in the mornings so the plants can take advantage of the water throughout the day.
• Water near the base of the plant or stalk or root, if at all possible.
• Cover the soil with bark, straw, grass, or organic matter to help maintain consistent moisture.

Proper tools: I’m a regular at Clean Air Gardening. I purchased their recycled plastic Tumbleweed composter which is terrific. They have a whole list of environmentally friendly or ergonomic gardening tools to help you get started or to supplement what you already have.

Image from: cleanairgardening.com

Gardening can have many benefits including lowering stress, improve physical health, produce healthy and organic food all while creating a cool microclimate for you and your yard’s wildlife.

Have Fun!
Stacey Crowley, Director of Master Planning and Environmental Initiatives

Join us on May 17 at the Kiley Ranch Welcome Center for more great gardening tips! Check back here for more information to come.

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On Sunday, April 20th Kiley Ranch will be participating in the annual Reno Earth Day Celebration in Idlewild Park. We are very excited to participate in such an important and well attended event and to share information about what makes Kiley Ranch a truly great place to live, work and play! Come see us in the California building and pick up your free Earth Day gift! Be sure to come early as supplies are limited.

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March 2008, Sparks, Nevada – The Kiley Ranch Preservancy Foundation is a non – profit 501(c)(3) corporation founded to acquire and manage the Kiley Ranch Wildlife Wetland Preserve in order to preserve the existing ecological diversity and wildlife habitat. The Foundation may also take on the goal of providing environmental education opportunities so that all residents of this region can make informed decisions leading to respect for, and the enjoyment, preservation, and responsible use of our natural systems.

The vision of the Kiley Ranch Wildlife Wetland Preserve is to develop, manage, maintain, preserve and protect the natural and ecological values of the Wildlife Wetland Preserve for public benefit in perpetuity.

In order to be successful in this mission, the Foundation will apply for the Question I grant offered by the Nevada Division of State Lands office. The fund was created, in part, to assist non-profit conservation organizations for the purpose of protecting, preserving, and obtaining the benefits of the property and natural resources of our state. Voters passed the bill in 2001 authorizing the State of Nevada to issue general obligation bonds “…to preserve water quality; protect open space, lakes, rivers, wetlands, and wildlife habitat; and restore and improve parks, recreational areas and historic and cultural resources.”

This is an exciting opportunity to preserve the approximately 200 acres of wetlands, wildlife habitat and open space in an area that is being developed at a rapid pace. Upon receiving grant funding for the acquisition of the land, the Kiley Ranch Preservancy Foundation will manage the land to conserve the valuable ecological qualities of the property in perpetuity.

If you are interested in learning more about the project, please contact the Director of Master Planning and Environmental Initiatives at Kiley Ranch Communities, scrowley@kileyranch.net.

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