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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Melanie Munk, Features Editor munk@heraldnet.com   Published: Thursday, April 10, 2008 The buzz: Camano Island Studio Tour coming up Early warning buzzer: The Camano Island Studio Tour, a free, self-guided tour of home art studios and galleries on Camano Island and in Stanwood, will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. May 9 and 10 and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 11. Now in its 10th year, the Mother's Day weekend tour features artists in action in working studios that reflect each artist's personality and creative environments, covering about 35 studios and galleries in all. Tourgoers will find a mix of painters, sculptors, photographers, jewelry makers, woodworkers as well as textile, mixed-media and garden art creators. See www.camanoarts.org for details or call 425-231-7236 for a brochure. In conjunction with the tour, the Camano Island Yacht Club is opening to the public for a luncheon and plant sale from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 9 and 10. Lunch costs $8 per person. There will also be a Mother's Day brunch from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 11 ($8 or $5 for children age 9 and younger). It's all at the Camano Island Yacht Club, 129 N. Sunset Drive, Camano Island. Call 360-387-3086 with questions. Green lawn care: Though most lawns only require about an inch of water a week during the dry season, they can be major suckers of resources year-round when you consider the fertilizer, compost, weed-control measures and mowing required. If you want to be greener and have a lawn, however, a new option has come to town. Clean Air Lawn Care, a Fort Collins, Colo.-based business, is making fast inroads in the Puget Sound area, providing a lawn service using green energy, including electric- and biodiesel-powered equipment. Solar panels mounted on the service trucks charge much of the company's equipment. Clean Air, which currently serves Snohomish County as far north as Marysville, plugs in some of the equipment overnight, but purchases carbon-offset credits to be a carbon-neutral business. Learn more about Clean Air at www.cleanairlawncare.com or call 425-590-7176. Get off the grass: This season, if you're ready to part with your lawn, you might consider replacing all or parts of it with a drought-tolerant landscape of native plants, a process called naturescaping. Learn more at dnr.metrokc.gov/wlr/PI/shrunklawn.htm or check out "How to Get Your Lawn Off Grass," a paperback by Carole Rubin. Have you had success with downsizing your lawn or have you tried Clean Air's services? Write Sarah Jackson at sjackson@heraldnet.com or check out her blog at www.heraldnet.com/ecogeek to share your experiences. Herald staff

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