Danville Owl-Box Educator Joins Bay Area Fall Garden and Repair Lineup

From wildlife carpentry led by a Danville nature educator to community appliance repair cafés, orchard workshops, and historic garden illuminations, a slate of autumn home, garden, and sustainability programs is underway across the Bay Area in November 2026.

Danville Nature Educator John Gallagher Leads Pesticide-Free Owl Box Workshop on November 15

On Sunday, November 15 at 2 p.m., nature educator John Gallagher will headline the Woodside Environment & Open Space Committee's free Autumn Event at Independence Hall, located at 2955 Woodside Road in Woodside. Focused on keeping residential neighborhoods pesticide-free through natural rodent control, Gallagher's presentation provides step-by-step carpentry instructions for building backyard owl nesting boxes and features photographs of owls and owlets documented on his Danville property.

Earlier that same afternoon—Sunday, November 15 from 1:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.—Rinconada Library at 1213 Newell Road in Palo Alto will host a free seminar on selecting and planting bare-root fruit trees before stock arrives at local nurseries in December. Don Bollinger, who leads the orchard team at the UC Master Gardener demonstration garden at Martial Cottle Park in San Jose, will explain chill hours, semi-dwarf rootstocks, and multi-graft varieties.

Palo Alto Repair Café, Gamble Garden Worm Composting, and Winter Sandbag Stations

Weekend sustainability programming kicked off Saturday, November 7 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Gamble Garden (1431 Waverley St., Palo Alto) with a free 2-hour worm composting workshop offering Palo Alto households 1 free compost bin or worm bin while supplies last. On Sunday, November 8 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (with check-in closing at 2:30 p.m.), volunteers at the Museum of American Heritage at 351 Homer Ave. in Palo Alto are hosting a free community Repair Café to fix up to 2 small household appliances or electronics per household.

To help homeowners prepare for winter storms between November and April, municipal public works agencies have also opened free seasonal sandbag stations across Palo Alto (Mitchell Park at 600 E. Meadow Drive, the Palo Alto Airport Terminal at 1925 Embarcadero Road, and Rinconada Tennis Courts), Menlo Park (Burgess Park and Fire Station 77 at 1467 Chilco St.), and East Palo Alto (150 Tara Road). Meanwhile, Stanford Federal Credit Union is hosting 2 free Zoom webinars: a 90-minute estate planning seminar on Thursday, November 12 from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. featuring attorney Kimberly Barrot of Falk, Barrot & Associates, LLP, and a 1-hour homebuying webinar on Wednesday, November 17 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Filoli's 28 Miles of Holiday Lights, Master Gardener Centerpieces, and November 24–26 King Tides

Starting Saturday, November 14 and running through January 10, historic Filoli estate at 86 Canada Road in Woodside launches its annual Holidays at Filoli celebration, with Holiday Lights admission starting at $45. The estate house is decorated to reflect the 1917 to 1975 residency of the Bourn and Roth families, while the gardens feature 28 miles of lights, a 210-foot light tunnel, a ballroom champagne lounge, and activities in wooded Thistlewyck Village. Also beginning Saturday, November 14 (with sessions at 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., plus an evening workshop on Tuesday, December 8 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.), UC Master Gardeners will host 3 free hands-on workshops titled "The Thrifty Table: Creating Beautiful Holiday Centerpieces."

Outdoor naturalists can join docents Olga and Tony Bright on Saturday, November 21 from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. for a free 2-mile hike around Sausal Pond at Windy Hill Open Space Preserve in Portola Valley, followed from November 24 through November 26 by peak winter king tides at the Palo Alto Baylands Boardwalk (2775 Embarcadero Road), where tides rising above 9 feet—roughly 2 feet higher than average—are accompanied by free guided walks from Environmental Volunteers.