Here are some pictures from the event (click on one to open a slideshow, then click on any again to close it )

The meetings are held on a monthly basis, each time with a different speaker and topic. This time, the monthly speaker was Tom Becker, UF/IFAS Florida Yards & Neighborhoods agent. Tom gave a walking tour of the demonstration gardens at the Eco Living Center, located at Rutenberg Park in Fort Myers. The gardens were designed based on the nine principles of Florida friendly landscaping [more info].

The second principle is “Water Efficiently.” To that end, the gardens are watered using stored rainwater, which is captured by a system installed by our own John Comito. The rain catchment solution was the main focus of the tour.

It was a team effort. Many partners are involved in the gardens. Closely aligned with the rainwater harvesting project are John Bishton of Electrical Service Masters, Inc. [more info] and Jeff Paul of Jeff Paul Enterprises, both of Fort Myers. Bishton installed the solar panel, along with its associated components, which powers the electrical pump that draws water from the underground water storage to divert it for irrigation, which is further controlled by a timer. Paul installed microjet irrigation, which waters plants even more effectively than traditional sprinkler methods, at a fraction of the gallon-per-hour rate.

For our private clients, we aim to provide rainwater storage solutions that are “out of sight, out of mind.” For the demonstration gardens, however, the components were purposefully designed to be plainly visible so visitors touring the gardens could see how easy it is to water a landscape in a manner that’s completely off the grid.

The Eco Living Center has a sloping roof, off which water is collected by gutters and stored in an above-ground cistern. With all the rain we receive in the wet season, this cistern quickly overflows. To make use of that overflow, it is collected in an underground system comprised of modular matrix blocks. These are very strong recycled plastic crate-like structures that form void space underground where water can efficiently be stored. Water is also collected from natural ground seepage. We installed permeable pavers through which rainwater easily flows.

An important quality of the permeable pavers is the cost savings with the local water utilities. You may notice an annual assessment from your utility company that is charged based on the area of impermeable surface on your property. Impermeable surfaces force rainwater to run off into waterways, storm drains, etc. The water authority then has to deal with all that unfiltered runoff. The modular matrix blocks we use are incredibly sturdy. They could be configured under a driveway, that is then surfaced with permeable pavers.

As Tom Becker said at the event, “You could park your firetruck on it.” If you do have a firetruck, consider parking it over your watersupply. You might then need a shorter hose.

Seriously, though, John Bishton said, “It’s fun to watch your electric bill go down.”

Think about how much fun it would be to watch your water bill go down along with it, while your beautifully sustainable landscaping plants come up. Your rainwater storage could also feed a beautiful water feature while it irrigates your garden.

Think about it. And join us at some Community Partnership Meetings in the future. We’ll keep you updated. Also, check in with the Lee County Extension Service [more info].

Where:
Eco Living Center at Rutenberg Park, 6490 South Pointe Blvd., Fort Myers

Monthly speaker:
Tom Becker Florida Yards & Neighborhoods Agent

Cost:
Free

RSVP:
avilamc@leegov.com

Why:
The intent of these meetings is to serve as a catalyst for businesses, government, and individuals to transition to more sustainable policies, practices, and conscientious lifestyles based on the belief that the health of our environment, economy, and community go hand in hand.

What:
Tom Becker UF/IFAS FYN Agent will give a guided eco-tour to show sustainable, Florida-Friendly landscaping™ using the nine principles of LeeCounties’ Florida Yards and Neighborhoods program. The walking tour debuts use of new rainwater harvesting tools to maintaining native plant beds. The system conserves potable water and provides water to supplement rainfall, and it uses newly-installed off-grid solar technology; an in-ground cistern built using matrix storage aqua-blocks, walkways using colorizing shell mulch and porous pavement using recycled tire rubber

The SustainabLEE Community Partnership meetings objectives will include:

* A bimonthly opportunity to exchange information on sustainable products and practices
* Guest speakers that will share their expertise on sustainability issues and lead in discussion.
* Forming a network for local businesses that provide eco-friendly products and services or seek to use them.
* Educating the community and exchange information on what sustainable products and services are available to them and their applications
* Applying sustainable land use strategies
* Identifying sustainable action plans for our local community, state, and nation
* Stimulate local collaboration

Who:
You, and your neighbors, too!

More info, including agenda:
[CLICK HERE]

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

There’s been a lot of bad news lately. So it’s nice to put the spotlight on two ladies who are powerhouses of good in our community. Even nicer, you can help them achieve their visions for Southwest Florida!

First up, Dolly Haymes, RN, is vying for $250,000 to provide new beds for the orthopedic unit at Lee Memorial Hospital. Speaking to ABC-7 about her entry into the Pepsi Refresh project, she said, “I really want to get our community involved, the hospital is for the community, you never know when you’re going be a patient.” Haymes indicated the existing beds are 15 years old – sounds like a good way to get aches and pains, not recover from them!

More good news: you can vote for her project at Pepsi Refresh once a day. Simply click HERE to vote.

Next, Sarah Owen is a finalist for the Engergizer Keep it Going Hall of Fame. Director of Community Cooperative Ministries, Inc., her self-stated mission is to “make sure no one in our community has to live on the street or go to bed hungry.” If she wins the prize, the competition will endow her organization with much-needed resources in the form of cash!

The Keep it Going contest also allows daily voting, with an added bonus: each time you vote, $1 is donated to the Cal Ripkin, Sr. Foundation. Simply click HERE and pass it on!

Here’s to all good things!

Cheers,
John and Sara Comito
Elemental Stone and Waterworks, Inc.
Setting dreams in stone

p.s. We’d love to hear about other folks doing good out there! Leave your suggestions in the comments.

Your Social Media Toolbox (happy hour speed learning)
for the Social Media Club of Southwest Florida
presented by Sara Fitzpatrick Comito
Elemental Stone and Waterworks, Inc.

What is Wordpress?

There is so much you can do with Wordpress, it’s hard to know where to begin.

Basically, Wordpress is an open source platform for creating and administering a blog. You can write posts and do your other administration tasks from any computer with an Internet connection. There is nothing downloaded to your computer. All you need is your username and password, which you set up at the beginning.

Additionally, there is a huge community of bloggers, developers and WP enthusiasts just waiting to help you out.

Wordpress.com vs. Wordpress.org

Wordpress.com offers free blog administration tools and free hosting for your blog. If you have a blog with Wordpress.com, the address for your blog will be something like this: ABCblog.wordpress.com. There is no installation process that you as a user need to worry about.

Pros: free admin, free hosting
Cons: cost for a vanity domain, less flexibility. more rules as to what you can do on your blog. For instance, you can’t do any ecommerce or sell ads on a Wordpress.com blog – at least not for long.

Wordpress.org offers free blog administration tools for a blog you will have hosted elsewhere (also called a “self-hosted” blog). You will buy a domain, which will not contain the .wordpress extension in the name. Instead, it will be like this: ABCblog.com

Wordpress.org installation can be very easy if you choose a hosting company that specifically offers Wordpress hosting tools. Otherwise, you need to know a lot of technical stuff that I couldn’t even begin to tell you about. I had a very bad experience with this with a previous host, and a smooth experience with my current host (HOST GATOR). If you want further details about this, email me.

Pros: free admin, you will have a vanity domain, more flexibility, freedom to do whatever you want on your blog – provided it’s legal.
Cons: you have to buy a domain, hosting is at your cost with a company you choose, and installation is not automatic.

Plugins
I am always amazed that for whatever you need to happen on your blog, someone has probably created a plugin for it (self-hosted WP blog only). Make sure plugins are tested to be used with the version of WP you’re using.

Here’s a list of some I think are essential (if you know of others, let us know in the comments. And as with anything on here, email me if you have further questions. I’d be happy to help if I can):

All in one SEO pack – contains tools to help search engines find your content
Wordpress.com stats – helps you see how many visitors come to your site, which site referred them there, how they behaved on your site (what they clicked, what they looked at, etc.). You can look at stats over time and learn what effect different kinds of posts or traffic generation methods work the best.
Disqus comments: allows commenters to login with their Twitter or Facebook username and password, commenters can post their comment to their social media platforms.
Google Maps for Wordpress: allow readers to see location maps
Akismet – comes standard on Wordpress blogs. Make sure you activate. It deals with spam comments so you don’t have to waste your time going through it or, even worse, mistakenly post it live on your blog.
Share to any – social media sharing/bookmarking tools to help your readers get your word out for you. It’s nice to have your customers working for you…

Nuts and bolts

Your dashboard (where you do all your blog administration) will be at an address like: ABCblog.wordpress.com/wp-admin or ABCblog.com/wp-admin

From there, you will be able to write posts, edit posts, create pages, moderate comments, add plugins, change the blog’s appearance (theme), add widgets etc.

It will look like this:

Some cool stuff

Wordpress allows scheduled posting. That means if you’re going to be on vacation, you can have your weekly posts in the queue and scheduled to post at any specific time in the future.

Basic principles

Blogs with consistently updated content usually fare better in search results with search engines (better search engine optimization or SEO)

Increase traffic to your blog using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media platforms.

Comment on blogs you enjoy. When your comments get posted there, you can often associate a URL with your name, and people who read it can get directly to your blog.

Provide links to helpful information. Linking out, as well as having other sites link to yours, will increase your SEO.

Be personal, as much as it’s appropriate for your business and industry, or charity or political campaign… a blog is different from a static website in that you allow two-way conversation with your readers.

Ask questions. Invite comments with open questions.

People love newbies. Ask your WP newbie questions on your social media platforms, and grow the community around your blog.

Use photographs, video, etc.

Use the “more” tag to show a brief intro to a longer article to keep your homepage looking neat.

Update to the current version of WP, and back up your files and database. Some hosts have turnkey solutions for doing this quickly and painlessly. Others that are more bare-bones put the burden on you to backup everything successfully.

Have fun!

Click to see the video:
Fox 4 Morning Blend June 2

Your Social Media Toolbox (Happy Hour Speed Learning)

When: June 7, 2010, 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Where: Oasis Restaurant, Holiday Inn Airport at Gulf Coast Town Center
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Elemental Stone and Waterworks, Inc.

For the next Social Media Club of Southwest Florida event, learn the nuts and bolts of online networking. If you don’t know a tweet from a blog – or if you’re looking to fine tune skills you already have – you’re sure to learn many helpful tips and tricks.

The format is going to be a little different. Instead of the usual lecture and panel Q&A, expect to engage in lively interactive “speed learning” roundtable sessions, each facilitated by a different SMCSWFL steering committee member. You may bring a laptop if you wish, and feel free to roam from session to session to get the most out of this dynamic educational event. Be ready to ask plenty of questions. It’s all about you and your specific needs.

Each 20 – 30 min session will focus on a particular online platform. Each is listed below, along with its facilitator:

LinkedIn – Gail Lamarche, Director of Marketing at Henderson Franklin Starnes & Holt, P.A.
Twitter – Michelle Hudson, Social Media Editor at the News Press
Foursquare – Chris Silk, Social Media Editor and Theater Critic at Naples Daily News
Facebook (advanced) – Michele Lorito Chase, Owner of Ghost Executive Group
Facebook (basic) – Susanna Wohlpart, Creative Director at WGCU Media
Posterous (microblogging) – Dean Piccirillo, Principal and Senior Financial Advisor at HBK Sorce Financial LLC
Hootsuite/Seesmic/Tweetdeck – Kerri Goldsmith, Administrative Assistant at HBK Sorce Financial LLC
WordPress (blogging) – Sara Fitzpatrick Comito, Communications Director at Elemental Stone and Waterworks, Inc.
Online branding – Brian Yerkes, Owner & Creative Director of Brian Joseph Studios.
Email Marketing – Brad Dohack, Realtor at the Dohack Group of Absync Realty

To further our mission to advance media literacy and because of the generosity of our sponsor, it’s all offered free of charge. However, space is limited and we expect a high demand for this informative event, so please register early.

The sessions will be held in the restaurant lounge area of the hotel and appetizers will be served, including Oasis wings, crispy calamari, chips and dips, and pretzel dough sticks. Happy hour drink specials will also be offered throughout the event.

Register at http://socialmediatoolbox.eventbrite.com/

You may have seen the homeowners’ pool transformation. We also enhanced their entry and driveway with a lot of stone. They were so happy, they wanted to carry the look and texture of natural stone to every possible nook and cranny, even up the walls.  These flagstones are not mortared, but anchored into the vertical surface using various hardware. What do you see in this stone mosaic – a waterfall, a mountain range…?

Click on the image to see our slideshow presentation, delivered to the U.S. Green Building Council Gulf Coast Chapter in collaboration with the Lee County Extension Service. John Comito and Extension Agent Thomas Becker spoke about Elemental’s installation of an in-ground rainwater harvesting system at the agency’s Eco-Living Center demonstration gardens.

Click on John to see news coverage of the project.