Four-legged weed-whackers provide essential services

If you were recently surprised by a herd of goats near Lake Elizabeth, rest easy—the weed-munching ruminants have not escaped the wild to feast on our park. No, what you saw were 650 hard-working members of Living Systems Land Management’s (LSLM) weed abatement team.

Goats and sheep have been used for years as agents of land management and are popular alternative to labor-intensive mowing, herbicides, and biological interventions such as insects and fungi. For the last five years, the city of Fremont has contracted with LSLM to manage Lake Elizabeth and Sabrecat Park.

Mike and Jan Canaday run LSLM from their base in Coalinga, where they own about a hundred acres of land—but it takes a lot more than that to run LSLM. “We have about 4000 goats and 3000 sheep,” Says Mike Canaday. “In the off-season, we graze about 4500 acres in the Central Valley.” The Canadays bring the pregnant goats to their modest ranch, but for the majority of the year, his herds and flocks can be found all over California reducing invasive plants in order to restore native populations, or creating firebreaks.

“We have one group of animals up in Santa Rosa,” says Canaday, “one or two groups that hang out in the Bay Area, and we we usually have one in San Jose . There’s another bunch in Southern California below LA. The groups stay in their areas for the season; we don’t truck them from one end of the state to the other.”

LSLM’s goats are “Boer crosses,” introduced to the US from South Africa in the 1990s. According to Canaday, compared to other goats, they are “just a little more civilized. They aren’t so spooky and they’re easier to get a long with.” The choice of whether to use goats or sheep at a particular location is usually decided by the plants that need management and the type of site. In vineyards and orchards, for instance, sheep, which are selective in their diet, only eat the targeted plants. Goats, on the other hand, “can tear up a vineyard,” says Canaday. Goats can also grow tired of certain plants, so long-term management often includes switching between sheep and goats every couple of seasons.

Goats are used especially where noxious weeds need abatement. They eat the flower heads and leave the stalks, preventing the plants from going to seed. They also eat the leaves, and without the attendant photosynthesis, the plants die out without building a strong root system.

Some of the plants that goats have managed successfully include Yellow and Purple Star thistles, French, Spanish, and Scotch brooms, European annual grasses and a list of other noxious plants that degrade both plant and animal habitats.

In California there are over 30 grazing businesses, but, according to Canaday, “for the size of operation like ours, there are only four or five.” There are no universally adopted standards for the grazing business, but because protection of both the environment and the animals is of paramount importance, LSLM adheres to essential management practices outlined on its website (http://www.livingsystemslandmanagement.com/Standards.html) which cover herd density, animal choice, humane treatment of the animals, plant identification, fuel reduction (for firebreaks), fire hazards, and more.

Onsite shepherds (the term covers goats and sheep) monitor the herds at the worksite 24/7. Additionally, portable electric fences keep the herds in precisely the area under treatment. Canaday says that the fences do not constitute a physical barrier, per se. Rather, they constitute a “psychological barrier.” Since LSLM never buys animals, but only uses what the herd breeds, every animal is brought up in the neighborhood of such fences. The goats have created a culture of fence avoidance, which the young animals adopt. More importantly, the fences protect the goats from predators, anything from dogs to mountain lions, depending on the setting. The most common problem is coyotes. “Coyotes won’t jump a fence,” says Canaday, “they’ll try to go under it, and if they do, the fence bites them a little and keeps them away.”

Border collies are essential to moving the herds into place and getting them on and off the trucks. “We couldn’t do this without them,” says Canaday. In fact, raising border collies was how he got into the business. Canaday is a former president of the United States Border Collie Handlers Association, and as such knew a lot of people in the livestock business, providing trained cattle- and sheep-dogs to many of them. Through contacts made around that time, the Canadays took the opportunity to purchase LSLM when the opportunity arose in 2002.

“The reason there aren’t a lot of people in this business,” says Canaday. “is that you spend all the money you made in the grazing season cutting firebreaks [in the off season] and just trying to hang on until next year. “We have to buy a lot of other feed, like alfalfa hay, and it’s expensive, but once you get it figured out, it works; it’s not a get rich quick scheme—it’s a lot of work.”

Cutting firebreaks is a significant part of LSLM’s business, and the recent wildfires have touched the Canadays: “Our off-season grazing area is about a mile from where 70,000 acres burned up in the Thomas fire.” It was close enough to make Canaday take to heart the trauma faced by so many. “I can’t imagine having to load up a truck with as much as I could take and get out of town with my wife and a few dogs—that’s just shattering to me.”

The fires became personal for Canaday, though, in another way. Firebreaks made by LSLM animals in Santa Rosa were responsible for saving an entire homowners association neighborhood, even when two adjacent ones were leveled. Cal Fire credited the weed abatement managed by LSLM for denying crucial fuel to the fires, which swept around, but not through the area. In a nearby wooded area, jobs at a medical instrument company were saved because firebreak maintenance under LSLM helped preserve the building.

Canaday feels quite fortunate that his business could have such a positive impact and “change the destiny” of people’s lives.

Does he have a plan for the future? “I’ll probably do this until I die.” Retirement plan? “Absolutely not,” he replies with a laugh. “If we didn’t like doing this,” he says, “we wouldn’t do it; but, we like it—we like the people, we like the animals, we like going to different places. You get see places that many people don’t get access to. It keeps us young and we love it; it’s just a good way to live.”

Kwanzaa celebrates core values, fosters community

This year, for the seven days spanning December 26 through January 1, millions of people of African descent here in the US and worldwide will celebrate the holiday of Kwanzaa, created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga of Cal State Long Beach.

According to Karenga, the name Kwanzaa derives from the Swahili phrase ‘matunda ya kwanza,’ meaning ‘first fruits of the harvest,’ or simply ‘first fruits.’ Swahili was chosen as the language of Kwanzaa because it is something of a pan-African lingua franca and because the acceptance of Swahili as an international language acknowledged the decolonization of numerous African nations in the 1950s and 60s.

Kwanzaa is a value-centered holiday with roots in the Black Nationalist movement of the 1960s. Karenga believed that the African-American community in the US needed a positive identity and fundamental set of values that were based on the moral and ethical ideals of its home and parent culture, both of which had been stripped from the men and women forcibly brought to the New World.

By annually uniting in meditation and study of the African traditions of Nguzo Saba, the “Seven Principles” which Karenga called “a communitarian African Philosophy,” a cultural renewal is effected capable of sustaining the spiritual energy needed to make progress in the face of racism, disenfranchisement, and social inequality. Speaking at the height of the Civil Rights movement, Karenga noted that the fight for social justice before anything needed a spiritual focus: “The cultural revolution,” said Karenga, “gives identity, purpose and direction.”

The celebration neither promotes nor reflects any particular religion, and while the Seven Principles on the surface feel universal, a reflection on the history of African-descended people here and abroad helps understand why Karenga chose these particular values, and the resonance they have within the communities of the African Diaspora.

The Nguzo Saba are celebrated one per day in the order given below:

Umoja (Unity): The focus here is to think about unity on several fronts, including family, community, nation, and race. Unity values what people have in common while recognizing the contributions made by their differences.

Kujichagulia (Self-determination): Here the point is that people should have the right to give themselves a name, take credit for their own ideas and contributions to society, and use their own voices in forming their society and deciding on what is ethical and right.

Ujima (Collective work and responsibility): The form of a community is the right and responsibility of all members. No one should suffer alone, and neither should any one person receive the spoils of work that is the result of community effort.

Ujamaa (Cooperative economics): Businesses, shops, and professions need to understand that while competition improves the quality of goods and services, the needs of human beings and the maintenance of a level playing field creates the healthiest environment for all community members.

Nia (Purpose): The collective vocation of a community is the building and development of the community in order to restore people of African descent to “traditional greatness.” This value recognizes that beyond the mission of individual business and practitioners, the greater purpose of the community should be replace worn-out stereotypes held even by the most well-meaning (non-African) people regarding African peoples. Africa has a rich history of sophisticated societies and intellectual development, but the impoverishment of the African Diaspora, most often the result of institutional racism, negatively informs public discourse about Africans and African-Americans in particular. African-Americans’ views of themselves have not entirely escaped the debilitating effects of the negative images held by non-Africans. The ‘traditional greatness” sought, therefore is as much about African-descended communities resuscitating their own self-esteem as it is about positively changing the worldview of non-Africans.

Kuumba (Creativity): All the community is encouraged to participate fully, using the particular strengths and talents bestowed upon individuals. Every generation should strive to leave the community more beautiful and better working than they found it. Whether it be through the arts, engineering, economics, professional development, or any other endeavor, individuals either alone or on cooperation should understand the role their indispensible efforts play. Community is not a concept, but a living organism that requires conscious and deliberate effort; moreover, everyone has something to bring to the table, and should.

Imani (Faith): This is about faith in people—about parents, teachers, and leaders. Implied also is that respect is due to those who have come before, who have learned the hard lessons, and who desire to pass on their knowledge. It is also about faith in the ultimate victory against inequality. If there is no hope that the world will someday value all beings equally and without prejudice, everything else is just going through the motions. For some reason, people the world over and throughout history have invented ways to be better than someone else. A world where that is no longer true is a vision truly to be sought.

On any given evening of Kwanzaa, a Karamu, or feast, is held. Gifts can be given, though mainly to children, but must always include a book and a heritage symbol. The book is to emphasize the African value and tradition of learning stressed since ancient Egypt, and the heritage symbol to reaffirm and reinforce the African commitment to tradition and history.

The colors of Kwanzaa are black, red and green. Decorations should include traditional African items, for example, African baskets, cloth patterns, art objects, harvest symbols, and such. The greeting for each day of Kwanzaa is ‘Habari Gani?’ which is Swahili for “How are you?”

This year’s Kwanzaa theme is “Practicing the Principles of Kwanzaa: Repairing, Renewing, and Remaking Our World.” Every year the Afro-American Cultural and Historical Society, a cultural and historical society based in the Hayward and Tri-Cities area, sponsors a Kwanzaa celebration. This year it will take place on Friday December 9 at Palma Ceia Baptist Church in Hayward. There will be displays of crafts and a program of drumming and poetry, followed by a Karamu Feast.

Kwanzaa Celebration

Friday, Dec 9, 2017

6:00 – 6:30 p.m. Displays and Crafts

6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Program

Palma Ceia Baptist Church –Bennett Hall

28605 Rufus Rd, Hayward

For more information: (510) 471-9040 or www.aachsi.com

Free

Tech solution benefits deaf and speech impaired

In September of 2017, a mountain lion chased two deer onto the athletic field of the California School for the Deaf. An unusual occurrence to be sure, but a potentially dangerous one for anyone considering going outside. In an institution where audible alerts are of little use, how best to warn members of the danger and to stay indoors?

Believe it or not, up until just a few years ago, the answer would be to send a runner to each of CSD’s classrooms and sign the news in American Sign Language (ASL). Obviously, that’s an inefficient system that puts one or more individuals at risk. In the case of more serious threats like armed shooters, the potential for disaster is huge.

“One time, a few years ago,” says CSD’s Dean of Students, Ethan Bernstein, “a guy was shooting up into the air with a gun down at the corner, and Fremont PD came here and said we should shelter in place. We had no real electronic communication then—people had to walk to each building and inform them to shelter in place, which is a sketchy solution to be sure.”

In 2014, CSD went about looking for a partner that would develop an emergency alert system for the school. Ultimately, the video relay service provider Convo agreed to work with CSD, and during the summer of 2015, Convo engineers and designers developed an alert system from the ground up.

“This wasn’t an off-the-shelf product,” says Bernstein, “Convo and CSD worked together to develop it. It had never been done before. This school was a pilot, but the system is now being implemented in other deaf schools. It was a pilot and now it’s a model.”

The ConvoAnnounce system that resulted from the collaboration puts a large video screen in every classroom, office, and dorm room at the school. Not only is it good for signed announcements and public address situations, it uses flashing red screens and large block text announcements that indicate the type of danger, whether the school is in lockdown, whether evacuation is necessary, and much more. Any staff member supervisor can access the system at any screen to deliver a preset announcement of create a new one to fit the situation.

Most hearing people have probably not heard of a Video Relay System (VRS) of the kind that Convo operates. A VRS allows deaf, hard of hearing, or speech impaired people to use a video terminal to use sign language, which an interpreter then communicates verbally with the hearing party. Convo was in a unique position to provide a solution, not only because of its experience as a VRS, but also because it is a deaf-owned and signing-centric company. As brand coordinator Leila Hanaumi explains, “Who knows the deaf community and it’s challenges better than people who live the experience everyday?”

Convo develops its technology based on the core concept of the deaf ‘ecosystem.’ That is, in any natural system, individuals, populations, and communities benefit from the existing mechanisms of resource procurement and usage. For the deaf, hard of hearing, and speech impaired people that Convo serves, an environment—an ecosystem—that helps those people as individuals, populations, and communities find resources, find each other, and find fulfillment, best assists its constituents in being self-reliant. “We know firsthand what a positive deaf ecosystem can do for our community,” says Hanaumi, “It creates opportunities, increases choices, encourages collaboration, and fosters connection.”

In that vein, the company has recently introduced an app (for iOS and Android) that not only makes it easy for signers to communicate with each other and to the hearing via VRS, but also provides videomail and an extensive directory of deaf-owned and deaf-friendly services. As Hanaumi says, “what makes this directory so special—and there have been other efforts to do the same thing—is that we consider regular maintenance and updating of it part of our job description.”

Another of Convo’s success stories  Mozzeria, a deaf-owned pizzeria belonging to Melody and Russ Stein in SF. Even though they used an online reservation service, people were calling the restaurant, and the VRS and visual alert system in place wasn’t working well—50% of calls were lost.

In response, Convo developed Convo Lights. The alert system uses Philips Hue LED colored lights placed strategically throughout out the store along the ceiling, under the shelving, by the oven, and in the kitchen to signal when call is coming in, or, has been missed. Not only did Mozzeria’s answered-call rate shoot to 95%, the overall effect is visually appealing as well.

*   *   *

Looking back, an emergency alert system for the deaf seems pretty common sense. But as Hanaumi explains: “Prior to [ConvoAnnounce] there just wasn’t enough of a market out there to foster the development of technology.”

“If you look at the history of technology,” she continues, “it always is based on auditory culture—Alexa and Siri, for example—so there is a barrier to the deaf community’s access to those technologies. Then, a company like ours invents a sort of equivalent tech before the next round of innovation and equivalency development begins again.”

In 2009, Convo was a start-up with less than 10 employees. Today, it is one of the largest deaf-owned companies in the world with around 250 employees. The company’s success represents the unique alchemy that occurs when a company and its clients share both a similar culture and a ‘can-do’ attitude.

Incidentally, the mountain lion was never found and the deer, presumably are still living peacefully somewhere in the foothills of Fremont.

Meyers Garden – Horticulture and history meet

People who have lived in the area their whole lives will come here and say, “I never knew this was here.” Jeff Bennett, gardener of East Bay Regional Park District’s Dry Creek knows that the park he tends, also known as Meyers Garden, is one of the most beautiful hidden gems in the East Bay.

Meyers Garden was the summer residence of three sisters, Mildred, Edith and Jeanette Meyers. The cottage was built in 1900 and the garden itself is the product of decades of design. At different times of the year, it assumes different characters depending on which plants are in bloom.

“This time of year, October, November, to me is the most beautiful,” says Bennett, pointing toward the majestic sycamores, garbed in massive yellow foliage. The beauty of Meyers Garden isn’t just in the flowers, “its also about the fall colors.”

The Meyers sisters were the daughters of Henry Meyers and his wife and childhood friend Bertha (née May), married in 1894. In the 1880s Bertha’s father August May, a successful rancher, had purchased 1308 acres next to his 160-acre ranch in the foothills near Decoto, a recently established town just east of Alvarado. Upon his passing the ranch passed to Bertha’s mother, Sophia May, and then to Bertha after Sophia’s death in 1930.

Henry Meyers was a successful architect who with his partner Clarence Ward, designed around 75 commercial and industrial building in and around San Francisco that were mostly destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. Today he is known for the Posey Tube Portals at the head of the Oakland/Alameda Tunnel and several Veterans Memorial buildings around the East Bay.

Meyers also designed the family residence on Alameda and, when his mother-in-law Sophia, who lived with the family, wanted a small summer retreat on her family property, designed the cottage that stands at Dry Creek today. Built in 1900 and designed along the lines of the New Colonial style prevalent at the time, it had two bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen. (No bathroom—outhouses served the function.) Later expansions in 1915, and then around 1928, brought the cottage to its present day configuration, which includes two additional bedrooms, and a bathroom.

The three daughters all attended the University of California.  Mildred Sophia Meyers (1898-1982) graduated with a degree in architecture in 1921. Edith Mary Meyers (1900-71) graduated from the U.C. School of Medicine 1926 and joined the staff of Oakland Children’s Hospital. After retiring in 1960, she donated $50,000 for a meeting hall at the hospital that bears her name. Jeanette Bertha Meyers attended UC for two years, but did not graduate; her avocation was gardening. The sisters lived together their whole lives and never married.

By 1930, improvements included the front gate, a footbridge over the creek and the core of the garden. In the decade that followed, under Henry’s direction, the family added new planting beds, trees, rock-lined paths, steps, benches, a second footbridge, a new water tank, and other amenities. After Mr. Meyers’ passing in 1936, Mildred, with her interest in architecture, became the primary designer of the gardens. She drew the plans for the paths, stone steps, a fountain, trellises, benches, lampposts, and a cabana for the heated pool, added in 1950.

Dry Creek, so named for its seasonal dry spell during summer and fall, is occasionally prone to flooding.  Earlier this year, the nearby hills funneled a torrent through the garden, eroding pathways. Video shot by Bennett shows the “dry creek” nearly overflowing its banks. “People who see it dry ask if it ever flows,” says Bennett. “It does flow, and it does flood.”

This year the creek may start flowing earlier. “We still have a little pond underneath the bridge,” says Bennett, “which is usually gone by the first part of August, but the groundwater is high enough to preserve it. It’s not going to take much more rain to get the creek started this year.”

In addition to native plants, non-natives have always had a home in the garden. “The sisters loved ‘Sunset’ magazine,” says Bennett, “and whatever Sunset was introducing, they had to have it. We have agapanthus and ivy, and throwbacks to the old days.”

Every August from 1952 through 1972 the sisters hosted a fundraising party at Dry Creek for the Alameda Welfare Council. The themed parties drew hundreds of women from around the Bay Area. Each was a bazaar with booths and interesting wares. Lunch was served beneath the trees, followed by swimming and cards.

When a freeway was proposed that would run through the ranch in 1961, Edith went to the State Highway Commission hearing. There she told the commissioners of the “gently rolling hills, clear coursing streams, giant oaks, sweeping sycamores, and abundance of wild life,” adding, “we are three sisters with no immediate heirs, three women who wrote this plan [to deed the land for public recreation] into our wills five years ago and who have refused fabulous sums of money so as to keep our land intact for the use someday by all the people.”

Fortunately, a law was passed that prevented any public agency from exercising eminent domain upon another public agency in the case where the land has been donated, such as the sisters had done with the 1200 acres adjacent to Dry Creek, now Pioneer Park. Because of the sisters’ skill in conveying their property to EBRPD,  “this is protected forever,” says Bennett, “for the public to come and enjoy.”

There are picnic tables and benches. People can bring their lunch (but no BBQs or big parties.) There are chickens, herb gardens, and, coming next year, an iris garden sponsored by the American Iris Society. The garden is a popular spot for birders and photographers, and many come to see if they can spy wildlife.

The gardens also yield produce, including apricots, oranges, pumpkins, persimmons, 116 kinds of tomatoes and 60 kinds of peppers. Visitors are allowed to sample the ripe fresh produce for themselves, as long as they leave some for others.

“It’s a very peaceful place,” says Bennett. “It’s not a formal garden. People ask me where the signs are with the names. We’re just a cottage garden; if they want to know what the names of the plants are, we’re happy to tell them.”

Meyer Garden/ Dry Creek is located at the end of May Road, which begins where Whipple ends at Mission Blvd. Hours are Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. More information at http://www.ebparks.org/parks/garin, (510) 429-7713.