Community composting project in Balboa Park!

Territorio autonomo de lombrices. Autonomous territory of worms.

Hey, San Diego! Did you know there’s a community composting project in Balboa Park? The public is invited to participate!

I met the above super nice people today and learned about this environmentally friendly project.

The message is: Everyone, bring your compostable food scraps and grass clippings to the colorful structure you see in these photographs. The composting operation is located behind the Centro Cultural de la Raza at 2004 Park Boulevard. You can’t miss it!

From time to time, a batch of composted material is ready for use, and the organically rich soil is set out for participants to take home for their plants and gardens.

I learned the best time to come by is Saturday around noon. Smiling project volunteers are usually present around then. They can help you out, and perhaps even convince you to volunteer, too!

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Earth Day pledges on C Street.

Today I spotted these Earth Day pledges in downtown San Diego while riding the trolley down C Street. I jumped off to take photos.

Help clean the local communities…

Replenish landscapes with native plants…

Composting and building raised planter beds…

Use less plastic…pick up trash…

Recycle at home…

Enhance the beauty of the environment…

Love life.

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

The colorful birds of PB’s Wild Side!

Black-crowned Night Heron by David Krimmel.

A flock of wild birds has descended on Garnet Avenue’s trashcans in Pacific Beach!

The colorful artwork, created by professional and student artists, allows those walking down the sidewalk to explore PB’s Wild Side!

My visit to Pacific Beach yesterday happened to involve a leisurely walk down Garnet Avenue. I found eight different birds on trashcans. If there are more of these plaques out there, I didn’t see them.

The birds that are depicted can all be spotted in the wild here in San Diego.

You can learn more about this project of beautifulPB (who’ve also provided a mural map of Pacific Beach) at this website!

Common Loon by Hilary Dufour.

Ridgway’s Rail by Makena Seiler.

Belding’s Savannah Sparrow by Kyla Yu-Swanson.

Brown Pelican by Makena Seiler.

Double-crested Cormorant by Makena Seiler.

Least Tern by Makena Seiler.

Great Blue Heron and Anna’s Hummingbird by Hilary Dufour.

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Additional new trashcans celebrate San Diego!

In mid-September I noted colorful new trashcans are being placed in the various neighborhoods of downtown San Diego. The one’s I photographed back then celebrate the Business District and Cortez Hill.

Today, during a downtown walk, I noticed additional new trashcans that celebrate East Village and the Columbia District!

These colorful trashcans are being placed on street corners by the Downtown San Diego Partnership’s Clean and Safe program.

Here’s what I spotted today…

The East Village trashcan design features Petco Park on one side and a flowery East Village mural on the other.

(To see photographs I once took of the actual flower mural, click here.)

The Columbia District trashcans depict three prominent downtown buildings: Emerald Plaza, One America Plaza, and the Santa Fe Depot. On the other side is an image of the America Plaza trolley station at night.

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

New downtown trashcans celebrate neighborhoods!

New trashcans are being rolled out by the Downtown San Diego Partnership’s Clean and Safe program. And these cans celebrate the neighborhoods in which they’re placed!

I saw the first such trashcan a few weeks ago on the corner of C Street and Sixth Avenue, next to the Clean and Safe headquarters. Today, as I walked down from the top of Cortez Hill, I noticed multiple cans have recently been installed that celebrate the Cortez neighborhood, with images of the landmark El Cortez building.

The next two images are different sides of the above trashcan. I love the fact they are relatively mess proof and foot activated. No touching a dirty, germy handle!

The next two photos are of that first can by the Clean and Safe headquarters. It celebrates the “Business District”–an area of downtown sometimes referred to as the City Center or Core–with images of skyscrapers and the interior of historic Symphony Hall.

I’ll keep my eyes open for new cans in additional neighborhoods. Watch for updates here!

UPDATE!

I took photos of new East Village and Columbia District trashcans a couple weeks later and posted them here!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Fun trashcan tile art at J Street Viewpoint!

Check out this fun artwork on trashcans at the J Street Viewpoint in Encinitas!

I saw this public art during my last walk in Encinitas.

While enjoying the J Street Viewpoint park that overlooks the ocean, I also photographed a plaque remembering John Denver, which you can see here, and an extraordinary sculpture titled Humanity, which you can see here.

I don’t know anything about these trashcans. It appears the tiles were painted by community members, including lots of kids. If you know anything, please leave a comment!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Working to clean and beautify National City!

During my visit to the fun “A Kimball Holiday” event on Saturday, I met a couple of guys who are working to clean and beautify National City!

In an effort to promote a pedestrian corridor along Interstate 805, they are asking the public which improvements would be most important. Native and drought-resistant landscaping, trash and recycling receptacles, lighting, signage and more are being considered.

I don’t live in National City, but I am a very big walker who passes through its neighborhoods from time to time, so obviously I was excited to hear of this effort!

The guys I spoke to are hoping to receive a Caltrans Clean California Program grant to implement this positive vision for the community.

All I can say is, National City certainly deserves these improvements. This community might be a bit under-resourced, but its residents are equal members of the California family.

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Colorful trashcan art painted in Spanish Village!

There’s a very cool project now underway in Balboa Park’s always colorful Spanish Village Art Center. Artists from various Spanish Village studios have begun to paint metal trashcans that are placed around the big central patio!

It appears to me any subject matter is fair game. In this special place, where you can say hello to local artists and even watch them at work, it’s all about creativity!

These are the trashcans I spotted today…

What will appear here?

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Alley cats (and mice) painted on dumpsters!

An alley in downtown Escondido, which contains numerous amazing murals created for the Esco Alley Art project, is also home to several alleys cats. And mice.

They’ve been painted on two dumpsters!

Strangely, one alley cat appears to be a barber. Another appears to be an artist.

Check out photos I took of this fun Alley Art!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Build an easy compost bin and grow worms!

Look what I learned yesterday! How to easily build a compost bin and grow worms!

Two super friendly ladies at the Ramona Country Fair showed me how its done. They were at the Solana Center for Environmental Innovation booth, displaying ways people can bring environmental sustainability to their homes.

The Solana Center has a great website with lots of informative resources. Check it out here. You can even become a Master Composter! They have a wide variety of educational programs and host sustainability events all around San Diego County. They also feature special programs for schools and businesses.

Okay. Are you ready? To compost in a small yard, apartment or condo, all you need is a couple of plastic storage bins with holes drilled a certain way. And some shredded paper. And some starter worms. Then begin adding food scraps to your vermicompost bin.

You’ll end up with excellent potting soil, plus lots of wiggly bait for fishing, if that’s your thing!

For the exact step-by-step details, check out the instructions I photographed below! (You might be able to read the words more easily by using a computer, rather than a phone. Open the images in a new tab and they’ll enlarge somewhat.)

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!