Volume 68, Issue 7 July, 2024 | |
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On-Going 2024 Community Center Calendar
Saturdays: AA Mtg 10:00 a.m.
1st/3rd Wednesday: Tam Design Review Board Mtg 7:00 p.m.
2nd Tuesday: Homestead Valley Land Trust Board Mtg 7:30 p.m.
3rd Tuesday: Homestead Valley Community Association Board Mtg 7:00 p.m.
4th Tuesday: Sanitary District Board Mtg 7:30 p.m.
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Welcome to the Community Corner for updates on all the latest news and happenings throughout Homestead Valley and our greater Mill Valley community!
Events
Homestead Valley 4th of July Parade and BBQ
July 4 @ 11:00 a.m.
Scroll down for additional details!
Free E-Waste Collection
Friday, July 26, 2024
Mill Valley Community Center
Movies in the Park
Friday, August 2, 2024
Movie begins at sunset
Elemental (2023)
Old Mill Park
Homestead Valley Music Festival
Always the Saturday BEFORE Labor Day, the 2024 installment of the Homestead Valley Music Festival will be held on Saturday, August 24th, from 11:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. in the meadow at the Homestead Valley Community Center.
Summer Camps
Camp Funderblast at Homestead Valley Community Center
July 1 - August 16
Marin Horizon Summer Camp at Marin Horizon School
July 1 - July 26
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4th of July Parade and BBQ | |
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Homestead Valley 4th of July Parade and Picnic
Grab your coolers and blankets and join your neighbors as we march through Homestead Valley. Decorate your bikes, scooters and strollers and wear your favorite red, white and blue gear - after all, we are the parade!
Parade Details:
Parade Line up @ 10:30am at Volunteer Park
Parade Starts @ 11:00am
Picnic @ 11:30am in Stolte Grove
(parade route goes up Melrose to Laverne to Stolte Grove)
Picnic Details:
Live Music
Food by Hal's Original NY Hotdogs
Mia's Famous Desserts*
Balloon Artist
*If any community members want to bake goodies to add to the dessert table, you would be welcome!
**Please help keep our beloved valley clean by packing up and disposing of any trash during and after the event.
***Bring cash & credit card for food, beverage, and dessert purchases.
We look forward to seeing you all for a festive celebration!
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Homestead Valley Backyard Gardening | |
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Licorice Plant: Be Careful What You Buy at the Garden Center
by Kristin Desmond Ashley
Hello neighbors, hope you are enjoying our spring weather this year. It’s been favorable for planting new native shrubs and trees as long as you give them water for the first few weeks as they transition from nursery pots. At the land trust we are beginning our annual mowing cycle on our open grassy slopes. You may have noticed we tackled a few bad patches of thistles early this year on Kerouac Hill, and if you missed our article last month on thistle removal, you can catch up here on our website.
This month we are looking at licorice plant, Helichrysum petiole, a South African native. It is also known as silver-bush everlastingflower and trailing dusty miller. While it has a light licorice aroma it is not closely related to true licorice.
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Image: Joseph DiTomaso, courtesy Cal-IPC
Licorice plant is unfortunately still being sold by local garden centers even as it has been observed spreading on the south side of Mt Tam. In the satellite image below, licorice plant shows up as light grey-green patches below Four Corners. This is on GGNRA land, close to the HVLT. About 20 years ago, a number of Monterey pines were removed in this area, and licorice plant is now spreading on top of the stumps, creating dense tangles of fire prone vegetation.
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Image: Google maps, courtesy Marabeth Grahame
From the California Invasive Plant Council: “Licorice plant is a landscape ornamental that has escaped cultivation, invading undisturbed habitats. It reproduces by seed and vegetatively from stem fragments. …it can grow to form dense stands that may crowd out native plants.” Like many plants that the horticultural industry has presented to us, it’s likely to become more of a problem over time. This article tells a great story about one garden in San Francisco, and how the gardeners removed licorice plant and replaced it with natives.
There are some beautiful native plants that could take the place of the licorice plants you remove:
• For shade or part shade: Heuchera maxima - beautiful clumping foliage when dormant; reddish flower spikes and small white bells when blooming.
• In sun, yarrow (Achillea millefolium), very pretty foliage followed by white flowers. Aster 'Silver Carpet' (Corethrogyne filaginifolia) prostrate, silvery foliage, purple aster flowers, late season bloomer. Dune sagewort (Artemisia pycnocephala) silvery foliage, sage bush, fragrant.
It’s a challenge sometimes to do the right thing when we go to a garden center. All around us is a bounty of lush, beautiful plants and we assume that it’s fine to buy and plant them. We read articles in home style magazines, watch home improvement shows, hire landscapers and gardeners. If we ourselves don’t know better, we default to these practices and ideas. But to quote Doug Tallamy, from his book Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard:
...humans now occupy or have seriously altered nearly all of the spaces outside our parks and preserves. Each of us carries an inherent responsibility to preserve the quality of earth's ecosystems. When we leave the responsibility to a few experts (none of whom hold political office), the rest of us remain largely ignorant of earth stewardship and how to practice it. The conservation of Earth's resources, including its living biological systems, must become part of the everyday culture of us all, worldwide.
We encourage you to read, learn, and connect. info@hvlt.org
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Music Class Continues this Summer
In Harmony offers family music and movement classes for children ages 0-8 and the grownups who love them! These group music classes, designed for infants, toddlers, preschoolers and big kids, are backed by a research-driven curriculum that will nurture your child's inner musician, but the emphasis is on FUN! You and your children will grow a strong bond through singing, dancing, clapping, bouncing, instrument playing and other rhythm activities! So much more than a music class, In Harmony Music fosters developmental benefits that will support all areas of learning.
Friday classes offered at Homestead Valley Community Center at 11:30 a.m. The summer session starts July 19 and runs through August 16. Save $30 with coupon code HVCC. Additional indoor, outdoor and online classes available around Marin. Register now! www.inharmonymusic.com
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Homestead Valley Vignettes by Chuck Oldenburg | |
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LaVerne Railroad
In 1909, local capitalists sponsored a project to construct an electric railroad through Homestead Valley to Muir Woods and Big Lagoon (Muir Beach). Passengers would board the train at Locust Station. The new tracks would come off the Mill Valley line at Doherty’s Lumber Yard at Evergreen and Miller – where Whole Foods is today. The line was to follow LaVerne Ave. up to the Dias ranch. John Dias, the president of the corporation, gave a right of way over the proposed route through his ranch. From there, the line went down to Muir Woods and followed Redwood Creek to Big Lagoon. The above photo of Muir Beach shows today’s lagoon which is much smaller than it was one hundred years ago.
A September 3, 1909 editorial in the Mill Valley Independent stated the following: “The announcement made in the Independent last week regarding the possibility of a road being constructed from Mill Valley to Big Lagoon has awakened the public interest in the matter to such an extent that engineers and financiers have investigated the matter thoroughly during the past week. The feasibility and excellence of the proposed electric railroad is beyond question. Some day some far seeing financier is certain to build the railroad to Big Lagoon and Willow Camp [Stinson Beach]. The possibilities of that spot on the Coast are just being made known and have long been unappreciated. It is a certain proposition that before many years one of the finest summer resorts in the State will be located on the sea coast in that neighborhood, which will rival Santa Cruz, and bid for more San Francisco patronage because of its closeness to the city. For that reason, the railroad that will be constructed will prove a valuable investment for the owners.”
A November 12, 1909 article entitled, “Railway Company Now ready for Subscriptions,” stated that D.C. Braid, organizing director of the to be Muir Woods and Lagoon Electric Railroad was still directing every energy to make the railroad a reality. Braid stated that construction would not begin until at least $30,000 worth of stock had been subscribed for.
Evidently, the project died for lack of subscriptions.
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Homestead Valley Contact Information | |
Help 1st Responders Locate Your Home
Reflective Address Placard Order Form:
Click Here
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STAY CONNECTED:
Did you know HVCA is on Instagram @homesteadvalley? Be sure to follow us to stay up to date on events, last minute announcements, and more.
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Homestead Valley Community Association, 315 Montford Avenue, Mill Valley, CA 94941 | | | | |
