Our Sustainable Home Journey

Ever since Dan moved in about a decade ago, we've had the dream of retrofitting our little brick 1950s house to be more sustainable. We attended a Sustainable Tucson meeting with Robert Bulechek on transitioning to electric appliances run on solar.  He gave a great piece of advice - replace your gas appliances (stove, heater, hot water heater) with electric as they break down. We took that to heart. 

It has been quite a process. Similar to our journey with our rainwater harvesting system, we worked on it through the years when we had the time or money - or when appliances could no longer be fixed. 

Back in 2017 Dan dug a trench to direct greywater from the outdoor washing machine to the basin to water some heritage (low water) fruit trees. That washing machine provided about 17 gallons of water per load. The greywater basin also collected rainwater. 

While our cisterns and basins have done a great job supplying water for our low-water native plants and our veggie garden, Tucson Water recommendeds installing a super high-efficiency toilet for saving even more water. They even provide a $100 rebate for a MaP Premium toilet. Handy Dan installed ours. 

We even repurposed our old toilet. 

When the old air conditioner broke down, we replaced it and the gas-fired heater with a more energy efficient heat pump in 2017.

Our biggest dream was to get solar, but it turned out to be a more complicated process than I imagined. We needed to give the solar company an estimate on how much power we would use. Before we could do that, we had to replace our leaky, 74 year-old windows with energy-efficient windows. After looking at a lot of reviews, we chose Renewal by Anderson UV blocking windows with cool forest green frames. The new windows have really enhanced our lives as we now spend hours watching the birds in our front yard and we hear a lot less of the "Speedway" we live near.

Meanwhile... in the backyard, Dan fixed the washing machine for the last time. We replaced the washer and dryer with water and energy-efficient models. The only drawback is that the new washing machine uses less than five gallons of water per load, so our poor pomegranate tree isn't getting the 17 gallons it was used to.

The last step (we thought) was getting the electrical system redone to add new circuits for electric appliances inside the house.

Unfortunately a roof inspection from the solar company (Technicians for Sustainability) uncovered hail damage. So we had to get the roof retiled. 

We finally got the solar panels and battery storage installed this January (just after the federal incentives ended. Sad.) 

We celebrated our dream come true! We were able to run most appliances and the air conditioner on solar and storage! 

Now we just had to get the rest of our gas appliances replaced with electric ones. 

This time we lucked out with 50% discounts from Efficiency Arizona. We got in just under the wire before the federal government stopped covering transitioning to electric. We even got in on a sale at Lowes that paid for delivery and installation. They also took the appliances away to be recycled at Los Reales Sustainability Campus. 

Check out our shiny new induction oven. It will be nice not to breathe in those natural gas fumes.

Out with the old and in with the new. 

Just one last gas appliance to replace! 

We replaced the gas hot water heater with a heat pump water heater and the installers noticed some wiring from a previous installation that needed to be fixed. 

So all of our appliances now run on electricity and can be powered with our own solar panels. 

One last step: sealing the ducts and increasing the insulation in the ceiling (with 50% also covered by Efficiency Arizona). We more than doubled the thickness of the insulation. Our last electric bill was $65 due to record heat. But after the insulation it should be down to nothing!  

One last surprise, we had to redo a sagging roof before the crew could work up there. Brian did an amazing job! And now we know our ceiling won't be falling down on us! Thank you, Advantage Home Performance!

At last we had our gas disconnected! We are so blessed to have a sustainable home that we can leave to our children after us.  

More information: 

Efficiency Arizona (for rebates on insulation, wiring, duct sealing, and upgrading electric appliances)

Commercial High-efficiency Toilet Rebate

Residential High-efficiency Clothes Washer Rebate

Protest in the Park

What is this plant

That deserves protection

This little “weed”

I love so dearly

That I stand guard

In protest

As violent machines

Roar past

Slicing greenery

With their sharp blades

As flashing, flicking wires slash and slit

indiscriminately

Along turf's edge

What is this plant

That occupies my time

If so called weeds

By their very nature

Spread

Why is my help needed

To replant

To reseed

To protect from poison

For appearances sake alone

For contracts made

Without nature’s consent

What is this plant

Seasonably celebrated

Subtle sour succulent

Shedding tear shaped leaves

As mowers run roughshod

Through the free produce aisle

Along the curb

This playground garden

Kept as an example

Until razor sharp teeth

Rip through

Leaving nothing but crumbs

For the ants

Where the children play

But not today, not today

I stand in protest

With my picking tools

Lined up like pickets' tools

Shielding precious purslane

For future food lessons

Munchies for birds and bees 

Tree huggers have nothing on me 

Workers in broad rimmed hats

Stare confused

Instruments of destruction

And cellphones in hand

Awaiting instruction

With a handshake it's done

The natives are spared

Saved to flower another day

I suffer mixed feelings

For disrupting workers

For one last reprieve

Will it weaken my leverage

For new trees

I take up my spade

Liberate the weeds

Fiercely protective of the roots

Now tucked safely between pollinators

For kinders to taste 

In their sensory garden 

Learn more: 

Prompting Purslane Season

Still Crazy about Purslane

Observations from the Park

You’ve probably seen them quietly going about their tasks.

The elderly couple fills garbage bags on their morning walks.

The addict compulsively collects trash in his shopping cart.

The middle-aged woman picks buffelgrass as her hubby grumbles, “Can’t help herself.” 

The homeschooling mom grabs goat head stickers during a much-needed stroll.

The husband totes home a dangling sticker weed to show her.

Shorts soiled and shredded, a senior scoots along the turf pursuing khaki weeds.

Sometimes an inquisitive foster boy tags along pulling a weed or two.

The young mother picks burclover while her baby grabs fists of grass.

The dog walker scoops up dog poop near the jungle gym.

What would our neighborhood be without them?

If they got tired…

Discouraged by a chore that never ends.

What becomes of our little park then?

Could we come together as a community to take up the slack?

Acting like a community choir.

While one member catches their breath, others hold the note.

Teaching Newcomers How to Live Sustainably in the Desert webinar, 7pm Aug. 31

Dan advising new homeowner on gutters

Join Sustainable Tucson's Water Committee for the August meeting when sustainability realtor Alicia Mujica will present: Teaching Newcomers How to Live Sustainably in the Desert.

Monday, August 31th from⋅7:00 – 8:30pm
Join with Google Meet
meet.google.com/ani-wqxn-jat
Join by phone
‪(US) +1 916-905-1996 PIN: ‪879 450 407#

Alicia will share how she is leveraging her skills as a Sustainable Realtor to educate newcomers to Tucson about acclimating to the desert and adapting to a rewarding desert lifestyle. This includes working with the Water Committee on the Desert Lifestyle Tucson website and helping to develop curriculum for continuing education units (CEUs).

She will also share a recent home purchase in which she represented buyers purchasing a home built in 1959.The experience became an opportunity to rethink traditional approaches to drainage and water management. Lending requirements called for regrading and new rain gutters, but after a tour of the home, Dan was able to identify more sustainable solutions. The way forward included strategic water basin placement and rainwater harvesting, saving the buyers time and money while helping them gain confidence in practices that conserve water and protect their investment. Alicia will be using this example for an article on the new Desert Lifestyle Tucson website.

Alicia: As a Tucson resident for over 20 years, I’m passionate about this community and the unique lifestyle it offers. My love for the Sonoran Desert grows deeper every year, and I never tire of its beauty. My heart soars during monsoon season, when the desert comes alive with the scent of creosote, and again in spring, when the wildflowers bloom. I find that same connection with each hike through Sabino Canyon, Saguaro National Park, or my favorite little neighborhood loop, Linda Vista. If I time it just right after a good rain, I might even catch the Santa Cruz River flowing, which grounds me in so much hope and joy.

I care deeply about Tucson’s history, culture, and preservation, and I want to see our city grow in a way that protects its natural beauty and honors the heritage that makes it so special. We cannot do that without collectively considering what it takes to sustain our environment for future generations, correct past mistakes, and reduce our reliance on unsustainable water and energy resources.

Alicia's Bio I’ve been a licensed real estate agent for over seven years, and my journey into this career started after I sold my first townhouse and purchased a new home. This experience gave me a firsthand understanding of the exciting, yet sometimes overwhelming, process of buying and selling a home. I believe in the power of home ownership as a tool for financial security. For many, owning a home is one of the most impactful investments they’ll ever make, and I feel incredibly fortunate to help clients navigate this important milestone. My goal is to make the process as smooth and rewarding as possible by providing expert guidance, personalized advice, and unwavering support every step of the way. I offer my services and specialize as a Sustainable Realtor seeking solutions that will empower a client to decide their path forward.

Also, don't forget to mark your calendars for our September 28th meeting when Catlow Shipek, Senior Program Director with Watershed Management Group, will present his most recent hydrolocal data model. Catlow will demonstrate how Tucsonans can thrive with the water we have available, even with cutbacks in Colorado River Water. The Water Committee meets the last Monday of every month at 7pm. To receive announcements of upcoming meetings, email: Jana@sustainabletucson.org

Peering through the window

Peering through the window.

Awaiting the coveted monsoon. 

Long days of scorching heat.

Storm clouds roll in and roll out.

Or leave only sprinkles.

Droplets sizzle on the hot dry earth.

Teasing desert plants that wilt in the relentless sun.

Thunder in the distance.

Rain in the foothills again. 

A micro-burst takes out a neighborhood tree.

Finally, the pitter patter of rain drops on our roof.

We rush out to watch it sink into our basins.

And refill our tanks.

Is this the promised monsoon?

Where are the daily downpours of years past?

Struggling with the relentless heat. 

I seek solace in my little veggie garden.

Palo Verde branches can't shield the plants.  

Chard lays limp on the ground waiting for water. 

Leaves yellow, tomatoes melt. 

The path burns my bare feet.

Sad feet longing to sink into moist soil.

 Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

I rush back to relieve them on the cool kitchen tiles.

Chilling in my casa.

Peering through the window.

At the desert habitat we lovingly crafted, plant by plant.

With the help of our little partners who sowed the seeds. 

Starlings, sparrows, finches, thrashers, woodpeckers, doves.

Peck for seeds in the mulch.

Vie for a spot in our bird baths.

A mockingbird torments a red-tailed hawk. 

Until it takes off on majestic wings.  

We gladly share this food forest with feathered friends.

But thrashers break into our veggie garden.

Hop and peck and knock off basil leaves

Poke holes in tomatoes meant for us.

A small price to share our yard with endangered fowl.

Then greedy harvester ants strip every edible leaf from a cherished moringa tree.

But it will grow back, won't it? 

This is the season for tasty purslane and sprawling, spiky goat heads.

In our rain basin transplanted purslane thrives beneath hand-watered pollinators.

Nourished with captured rain. 

Birds and ants snatch the leaves - the tastiest part for us too. 

But hope reigns in the rain.

Leaves grow back, flowers bloom, seeds spread.

Attracting the long awaited and longed for quails. 

One settles in a puddle under a newly watered weed.

 I watch from my window and smile.

A joyful sign of hope in the desert.

More Information: 

Our Yard the Bird Feeder

Bagels & Burrs Builds Community

The main reasons that I've stepped up to be an officer of the Pinecrest Neighborhood Association were to foster community and beautify the neighborhood. So adopting our namesake park fits perfectly with that mission. Pinecrest Park is the heart of our little neighborhood. Neighbors meet daily while watching their children on the playground, walking their dogs, or just relaxing in the shade. There is a real sense of community. 

We have a longstanding tradition of caring for the park. But officially adopting the park means more than just getting a cool sign or installing a Little Free Library. It comes with responsibilities like looking out for the park and listening to the concerns and suggestions of users. The biggest concern (after replacing dying trees) is the condition of our turf. A variety of invasive plants are crowding out the struggling Bermuda grass. The most aggressive being the California burclover.

Notice the tiny leaves and burs

Noni (who rode her horse on the lot back when this was ranch land), shared how the burs get in her little dogs' paws. Unfortunately, lawnmowers only make the problem worse by spreading the seed. I am seriously worried that burclover will take over the park. Adrian, head of maintenance for the Parks Department, recently joined me for a tour of the park. He admitted that Parks would use herbicides on it (which defeats the purpose of protecting the dogs if you ask me) and that there was no money for reseeding. He mentioned that patrons of Himmel Park made some good progress with goat heads through their removal events and suggested we organize something similar. 

After broaching the idea with the other officers, Bagels & Burrs Family Fun Day was hatched. We would make a fun family event with bagels (thanks Ward 6!), activities, and free books for the kids.

We set up hula hoops, beach balls, bubbles, and a water table by the playground. In the end, 38 neighbors came together to pull burclover. We even had Bur Patrol medals for kids who pulled a certain amount. Families worked as teams! It was a great community building event. Thanks to everyone who came out.  

Also, thanks to Dairy Queen on Alvernon for the ice-cream coupons and Meg from the Garden District for arranging it. 

Try as we might, we hardly made a dent in the burs. If I had to do it again, I would have everyone work in the same area. If we get a big patch, Adrian has agreed to put down seeds there and fence it off to protect the new grass. 

Inspired by the rain Monday, I started working on a patch around the bench where Noni sits with her little dogs. The wet ground makes it easier to pull, so I have been out there every morning from 6am to 7am to take advantage of the wet ground from the sprinklers. I leave when the ants come out.

The bare patch where I removed the burclover

But to really have an impact we need a Bur Patrol to extend that patch to a strip along Torino. 

I'm usually out there at 6am with my bur picking kit. I have one extra picking tool if you ever want to join me. Bring a mat, carpet remnant, or piece of cardboard to sit on. I found that my yoga mat works great. 

If you're not a morning person, you can still help by making your own patch along the section by Torino. Bring a Bur Buddy! Start your own Bur Patrol picking team!  It's much more fun with someone to chat with!

Directions: Make sure you get them by the roots. Look for the bur then follow it down to the root. Sweep your hand under it to grab all the branches. Then pull the whole thing up.

 While you're at it, go ahead and dig up the khaki weed. Those "flowers" turn into nasty burs! 

Patch of khaki weed w/ shiny dark green leaves. The other side has stickers. 

Or you can rake up the dried burs. (I use my fingers.) We need to get those burs up before they spread their seeds all over the park. If you have an electric leaf blower you can try vacuuming up the dry burs. 

See the burs left behind after pulling the weeds?

It's going to take a real community effort to get it out. It's our park! We can do it...together.

Dan getting some burs out by the playground to protect little ones. 

If you want to join Dan or me, you can check to see if we will be there by the night before your visit: info@pinecrest-na.org 

UPDATE: I have gotten up every morning for a month to pick burclover and khaki weed.  Thanks to the other 6 people who have helped - especially Hanna, Cheryl, and Dan! We have made some real headway on Torino and near the playground. Still lots to do - if you would like to help...

Another park action: Some of the pine trees in Pinecrest Park are dying off, but they aren't being replaced.  The city's urban forester is working on a pine tree replacement policy.  Help us be first in the que to get our trees replaced. Report the dying or removed trees on the 311 app and ask for them to be replaced.  

Nurturing the Volunteers in My Garden

This is kind of an embarrassing story. If you've followed my desert gardening exploits, you know I've struggled with squirrels, birds, and other pests going after our veggies. The veggies that survive are usually covered with a bird netting cage.

But I keep persevering, determined to mitigate our desert soil with compost, mulch, cover crops, and rainwater. I enjoy getting out in the shaded garden and hand watering our plants with rainwater collected in nearby cisterns from our generous neighbor's huge roof. Sometimes an inquisitive hummingbird joins me. 

The plants that are really thriving in my little garden are "happy accidents." From the volunteer palo verde that protects the garden from the harsh sun to the mystery plants that sprout in the compost pile or occasionally where I plant something else. That includes two junior fig trees - that may have been planted by one of those silly squirrels or birds. 

It all started with the compost pile. Despite regular watering (with sink water) and turning it to aerate it, I'm embarrassed to say that I have never gotten my compost pile hot enough. Maybe because I cut my kitchen scraps into tiny pieces so they will compost quicker (less than a month rather than six months to a year). But it makes lovely compost nonetheless. It just doesn't kill the seeds... So occasionally I get mystery sprouts. I've decided to embrace the matter. 

The first step was digging a hole along the fence (where the most sun seeps through). Then I mixed that dirt with compost and built a mound.

At the compost pile, I slipped my shovel under the roots of the sprouts and carefully placed them (compost and all) on top of the mound. Then I tucked them into their new bed.  

But the embarrassment doesn't stop there. There were some naughty mice in our pantry that got into bags of beans and grains. So I scattered that mess into another hole. 

I covered them with some compost - that had more sprouts in it. Couldn't wait to see what would pop up! 

 Long story short, we got some bean sprouts (that died out of season), some plant I didn't recognize with cute round leaves, and two tall volunteers (that I thought might be lantanas.)  

On the mound, one of plants grew big round leaves that resembled squash or cantaloupe leaves. (I affectionately called them squash-a-lopes.) It finally flowered and grew a baby sugar pumpkin. It soon became clear (by the yellow flowers) that the tall plants were tomato plants.

In the other hole (to the right) we finally identified those with the round leaves as lentils and the tall ones with pretty blue flowers were chia plants.  Just love my volunteers! But I wasn't the only one... When I witnessed a squirrel eyeing them greedily, I blocked it's access to the garden and installed a little garden fence around some of the plants.

Remember that I mentioned the volunteer figs? 

I love my citizen science...  So I scrolled back through old photos to find out where they had come from.

Long story long, I had planted complimentary plants - chard and carrots in a plot with compost. I covered them to protect them from the critters. I may have planted too many carrots... The bird netting cage discouraged me from thinning them out, so the carrots were tiny and twisted.

But check it out; there's a mystery plant growing in there! 

After thinning them, the mystery plant thrived. Hey, is that a fig tree? (Discovered Dec. 15, 2023) 

And then there were two! These guys are fighters! 

They soon outgrew their cage. So I removed it and installed a fence around them to keep out the critters.

I watched a video that mentioned fig roots like to spread out. So I took out the bricks that were blocking their growth.  

So cool! Now I could see where the roots had grown deeper than the compost and how they had been blocked by the paver. (Note: That's chard I planted from seed under the figs.)

I extended that hole into a basin. Using the technique I applied to the other volunteers, I mixed the garden dirt with compost and built up a berm around it. Then I covered the basin with palm frond mulch to keep the moisture in longer. 

Those are some happy trees! I deep water their basin twice a week and the twin fig trees are thriving!

Here's an update on my volunteer tomatoes and sugar pumpkins twenty days later...

How cool is that!  As long as I keep nurturing them, they keep nurturing me.