Volume 68, Issue 5 May, 2024 | |
|
|
May 2024 Community Center Calendar
04 | Pool Opening |
09 | Local Artist Series - Artist Reception: Meili Zhao |
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.
Save the Date
MHS/HV Joint Committee Meeting
Monday, May 6th
4:00 p.m., Marin Horizon School Library
| |
|
The HVCA is gearing up for summer and looking forward to the Pool Opening, currently scheduled for Saturday, May 4. The pool is open to Homestead residents and the general public. Memberships and day passes are available on our website. We are also looking forward to the final art exhibit of the season, featuring local Marin artist Meili Zhao (May 1 - May 31).
4th of July is fast approaching. We will be holding our annual parade and celebration that starts at Volunteer Park and ends at Stolte Grove with food, music, and crafts! Hope to see everyone there!
| |
|
Local Artist Series
Meili Zhao
| |
 | |
Please join us for a reception featuring
Homestead Valley artist Meili Zhao
Thursday, May 9
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
HVCC
Meili Zhao, a member of the City of San Rafael Public Art Review Board, and art class teacher at Mill Valley Recreation Center. She brings a rich artistic background to her role. Specializing in Watercolor and Oil Painting, Meili's artistic journey began in her youth, drawing inspiration from Traditional Chinese Painting Methods.
Honing her skills, Meili's repertoire expanded from traditional Chinese painting to captivating landscape and wildlife paintings. Beyond her artistic pursuits, she holds a Master’s Degree of traditional Chinese medicine, and had a successful career as a Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctor. Her international recognition blossomed during her time in Turkey, where she catered to an exclusive clientele of esteemed professionals.
Meili is long time (25 years) resident of Marin County and finds inspiration in the scenic beauty of the area. As a devoted artist and public art advocate, she continues to weave her unique blend of tradition and personal experience into her compelling pieces.
Her website is meilizhaopaints.com.
| |
|
Homestead Valley Music Festival
Poster Contest
| |
|
Calling All Homestead Valley Artists!
This year we are looking to our community for the design of the 2024 Homestead Valley Music Festival poster!
Deadline for submissions is June 1st, 2024.
This year’s theme is all about Keeping It Local so we encourage you to create a design that represents our incredible Homestead Valley. The winning design will be the official 2024 HVMF poster and will be hung around town as part of our marketing campaign and sold at the event as well.
Here is a link (scroll down) to past poster designs for inspiration. We are so excited about this new contest and can’t wait to see the designs that come in from you all!
Below are some parameters for your design:
Bright colors and simple designs will work best, but please be creative and HAVE FUN!
- Must be digital and editable format. We will be overlaying the line up and sponsor information closer to the event so please keep this in mind when designing.
- Must be press quality, PDF to scale/size (18”x24”)
- Must include the following information:
- Homestead Valley Music Festival
- Saturday, August 24th, 11:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.
- In the Meadow at 315 Montford Avenue, Mill Valley
- Free Entry - Donations Encouraged!
To submit: Email PDF to Ashley MacDonald (macdonaldashley88@gmail.com) by June 1st. Please include 2024 HVMF Poster Contest in your subject line. We will contact you for additional file formats if your poster is selected.
| |
|
The HVCA is now offering year end Pool Parties to any and all school groups (public and private) for end of the year celebrations!
Student parties can be scheduled Monday - Friday between 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., prior to the pool opening to the public.
The HVCA will charge a reduced rate of $5.00 per child, inclusive of a lifeguard. A minimum of two adult chaperones is required. The Patio and Meadow areas will also be included and available for snacks and lunch or for students that choose not to swim.
Please e-mail Jonnie Alper at info@homesteadvalley.org for availability.
| |
Homestead Valley Backyard Gardening | |
|
Homestead Valley Backyard Gardening:
All About Thistles
By Kristin Desmond Ashley
Welcome back! This is the second in our article series about invasive plant species and how you as a homeowner can help the Land Trust on its mission to maintain our lands in an ecologically sound manner right from your own backyard. We encourage you to explore information from the Homegrown National Park program and register your property if you are interested. In addition, the Marin chapter of the California Native Plant Society has a wealth of information specific to our area to help you choose what to plant. They sponsor field trips to local preserves which allow you to see how our native plants grow in the wild. Your own Land Trust also sponsors wildflower walks, so keep an eye out for those announcements.
Before we move on to the plant for this month, how did it go last month? Were you able to identify echium (Pride of Madeira) on your property? Were you able to remove some or all of it? If not, don’t worry, there is still time to remove plants or cut back flower stalks. The more you remove this year, the less you will have to remove next year. If you walk Pixie Trail east of the paved part, you will have noticed that our land manager and his team have pulled a great deal of echium over the last month. It might look quite stark initially, but room has been made for natives to come back in.
This month we are tackling another difficult plant: thistles. It’s likely that you already don’t tolerate thistles in the parts of your yard that you, your kids or your pets spend time in because they can be quite painful to touch and some grow impressively tall. But it’s easy to overlook them in the wilder areas, in meadows, under trees, or next to roads, because they often hide among grasses at first. If you ignore them, they will take over quickly, and in a short time, you will have mostly thistles! The Land Trust regularly deals with thistle invasions and they are increasing with our warming climate.
Thistles are mostly annual plants that grow, set seed and die in a single season. Some are biennial, they grow in one season and set seed and die the next season. There are several species that are considered noxious weeds in our area and many more that are potential problems. All should be removed before they set flower buds to avoid further spreading.
These are the three most common invasive thistles that we find on Land Trust lands:
| |
|
|
|
ITALIAN THISTLE Carduus pycnocephalus
Photo credit: NPS
Tall with a small tuft. Annual removal can be very successful at controlling this weed.
| | | |
|
|
|
MILK THISTLE Silybum marianum
Photo credit: Marabeth Grahame
Has distinctive white veins on spiky leaves and can grow very large. Used for centuries as a medicinal plant, a flavanoid from milk thistle protects the liver from toxins including as an emergency antidote for poisoning by death cap mushrooms.
| | | |
|
|
|
BULL THISTLE Cirsium vulgare
Photo credit: Marabeth Grahame
Grows tall and stalky with spiky everything and a bulbous purple tufted flower. It is the national flower of Scotland. It provides a great deal of nectar for pollinators. Of all the invasive thistles in Homestead, it is the one that is easiest to mistake for our native thistle.
| | | |
Our native thistle, Clustered Thistle (Cirsium brevitstylum) looks similar to Bull Thistle but the leaves at the ground, the basal leaves, are different. | |
|
|
|
Clustered Thistle:
photo credit Calscape
| | | |
|
|
|
Bull Thistle:
photo credit photo by Bruce Ackley via The Ohio State University, bugwood.org
| | | |
|
Wear long protective gloves if you are going to pull young thistles by hand. Thistle buds can mature after pulling so you should bag and remove any plants with flower heads rather than leaving them on the ground or in a compost pile. This is why removing thistles early in the season before the buds appear is key. If you have a patch or invasion that is more mature, mowing is the best, followed by bagging of the cut biomass. Try to remove as much of the plant as possible.
A handy rule of thumb generally for invasive plant removal is that once you’ve done an initial treatment on an area, maintenance takes about 10% of the original effort if you are consistent. After a couple of years, you can rely on spot checking and minimal pulling.
Good to know: Homestead Valley is a Firewise Community. As part of that, any work that homeowners do on their property to clear non-natives and fire-prone plants can be used to demonstrate community participation and applied for matching grants for future work. Please send the hours and costs that you accrue for any of your plant, shrub or tree removal to hvfirewise@homesteadvalley.org. The hours can be your personal time spent and do not have to be hours of hired gardeners.
Thank you for reading, and we’d love to hear from you if this information is helpful and if there are other topics you’d like to know more about. Please email info@hvlt.org.
| |
|
Music Class Continues this Spring
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 spring session started April 12 and runs through June 14. Save $30 with coupon code HVCC. Additional indoor, outdoor and online classes available around Marin. Register now! www.inharmonymusic.com
| |
Homestead Valley Vignettes by Chuck Oldenburg | |
Neighborhoods
Ask Homestead residents where they live and they respond with the name of a street. Most residents do not know the original name of their neighborhood. Development often involved purchase of land from the Tamalpais Land & Water Co. followed by subdivision into lots and streets. A map, signed, sealed, notarized and recorded, named the development. Previous history articles described six developments. There are many more:
1. In 1910, Carrie E. Bridge bought about 30 acres bounded by Sequoia Valley Road, Ridgewood (still a paper street) and Homestead Blvd. (now Amaranth Blvd.) The subdivsion of 112 lots was called Castle Park. The name comes from a 40-foot high vertical greenstone outcrop called Castle Rock which used to be visible from much of Homestead Valley.
2. In 1910, Ranch 5, west of Sequoia Valley Road (then not part of Homestead Valley) was subdivided as Marin View Acres. An advertisement stated, “45 minutes walk from Mill Valley station. 45 minutes ride from the city; round trip tickets 10 cents. You can reside on a Suburban Home Farm and go to your business each day in the city. Soil: Deep and rich, of such fertile quality will grow anything, combination of soil and climate make it ideal for fruit, vegetables, berries and chickens. Large Profits in Eucalyptus Trees: We will plant Eucalyptus trees for our buyers and guarantee them to grow for $30 per thousand or we will sell the trees for $10 per thousand and you can plant them yourself.” By the 1950’s, part of Marin View Acres had become the Flying Y Ranch (horses). During the last 20 years, it and other lots have been annexed to Homestead Valley. Homes in the Walsh Estates subdivision and others on Sequoia Valley Road required sewer attachments.
3. In 1907, Alice Scott bought 5 large lots between Evergreen and LaVerne, combined them and subdivided the property into the Scott Tract: 10 lots on the newly created Scott St., 5 lots on LaVerne and 5 lots on Evergreen.
4. Other developments are: Oak Tract, 10 lots on Oak St. (now Holly St.) and LaVerne; Bernhard Tract, west of Oak Tract; Morton Subdivision, 8 lots on Linden Lane south of Evergreen; Rivers Tract, 17 lots on LaVerne east of Reed; Ney’s Subdivision, 8 lots on Hawthorne, LaVerne and Reed; Glen Grae; Douglas Drive Gardens; Marin Terrace two and four; and Tamarin Highlands.
Can you name your neighborhood?
| |
Homestead Valley Contact Information | |
Help 1st Responders Locate Your Home
Reflective Address Placard Order Form:
Click Here
| |
|
|
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.
| |
|
Homestead Valley Community Association, 315 Montford Avenue, Mill Valley, CA 94941 | | | | |
