Becky is appointed Chairwoman of City of Lompoc Beautification Commission

Becky Barritt, owner of Becky’s Creative Landscape & Design was recently elected by the Beautification Commissioners as Chair of the Beautification Commission. In January of this year she was appointed by Dirk Starbuck to the Commission. “I am blessed to have this opportunity to serve our city and God knows there’s much work to be done!” she said. Becky hopes to help beautify the city in many ways and is not afraid to get her fingernails dirty. “Manicures aren’t my style. It’s hard enough just to keep them clean and not bleeding.” Becky said. She can’t complain though because she loves to get involved in the labor of landscaping wether it be on her John Deere tractor, or in the ditches digging and planting or gluing together sprinkler valves and pipes. “I started this business with an old Ford Ranger, a shovel and a wheelbarrow.” She is speaking of when she started her first business back in Illinois in 1992. She has been self-employed ever since doing landscaping. “I have never been given a bank loan except for the purchase of a truck or tractor. I have never been given anything that I haven’t worked for. There is no toothfairy behind this, just pure hard, dirty, backbreaking work.” Recently Becky found out that she is not going to be able to continue doing the heavy lifing and labor she enjoys. “I have been suffering on and off again with a bulging disk and arthritis in my back.” But this doesn’t stop her; she works anyway while she’s in pain. “This is the price of working the way I have for so many years. It is my exercise and I love it!” Becky will continue to do labor and volunteer for many projects as this is what motivates her to do what she does. “I love to make things beautiful! It’s my life’s work.”

‘America In Bloom’ Community Garden Update

We have been working hard helping to install a large community garden on College and O St. in Lompoc. The PVC pipes were installed and we connected up 25 spicots, approx. one for each garden plot. Some fruit trees were planted in the rear of the property and will be called the “Pie Orchard.” Several people from the community have begun planting after some soil preparation. My (Beckys) plot is all edible flowers and herbs and of course a tomato plant. All plants in my plot have been recycled from customers yards or cuttings from my existing garden at home. The white arbor was bought for a booth promotion last year and a bench came from Dick and Jane DeWees home whom I have recently finished landscaping. Flower pots and other accesories came from various recycled sources. The only thing I purchased was mulch, compost and some sunflower and dill weed seeds. My daughter, Lily painted some flagstone rocks some time ago and donated those to the cause.

We continue to build on the foundation that we have created. We will soon add large flower pots that will be wheelchair accessible, more decomposed granite for the walkways, a gazebo, and soil amendments. Of course we aren’t the only ones working on this project. Many members from the community have donated time and products, among them; Dulcie Sinn has organized the entire effort. Home Depot and Valley Rock Landscape Supply have donated many supplies. Also many individuals have helped with time and labor to get this project started.

Brick paver job in Santa Maria

Today we finished a 300 sq. ft. brick paver job in Santa Maria. It was in a backyard and everything had to be hauled in and out by wheelbarrow. The owner, a very patient man, watched us struggle throughout the project. The first step to this project was a challenge. We had to remove a concrete strip that was about 12″ by 12″ by 20 ft. long and it was impossible with my jackhammer. We had less than 1/4 of the concrete out by 1 pm. So I went to Quinn Rental on Betteravia Rd and rented a large generator with an air compressor powered jackhammer. This did the trick in 30 minutes. I was loading some broken concrete pieces in my truck bed when my back went out. I could feel a little bit of a strain but didnt think it was serious. I took it easy the rest of the day but the next morning I couldn’t get out of bed. It took about 20 minutes for me to walk to the bathroom and I almost passed out from the pain. It took 2 visits to the chiropractor, a professional massage and 3 days before I could walk without any pain pills. I’ve never been this bad before. Guess I’m just getting older. Thanks dad, for giving me a brother and a sister. My sister gave me the back massage and my brother was able to go to my job site and help supervise my employees for two days while they dug out the soil and put in the road base and sand. The rest of the job didn’t exactly go smoothly either. We hit a conduit with the jackhammer and cut the electrical inside. We knew it was there beforehand. There was just no avoiding it with the jackhammer. It was actually encased in the bottom part of the concrete slab. One of my new, spanish speaking employees put diesel in my plate compactor and was compacting the road base with black smoke spewing out from the compactor before I could stop him. Of course I wasn’t able to re-start it after draining the diesel and putting fresh gas in it. So it was back to the rental store again. My brick was delivered but the forklift broke down so we unloaded 2 and a half pallets by hand.  We laid all the brick and made the cuts. It took a day and a half to make all the cuts and clean up. It usually only takes a day. There were many difficult cuts to make and trying to lay brick under fences and around posts has got to be the most frustrating thing to do.  Every day was hard on this job. Even though I’ve been in this business for 20 years, I learn new things with every job. I told my daughter, “I bet there’s not too many kids your age who can say that their mother put down 300 sq. ft. of brick today.” The brick patio did turn out very nicely.

Dell Barritt helps ‘America In Bloom’ community garden

Becky’s fiance’, Dell Barritt helped out with the installation of the ‘America In Bloom’ community garden. He got up about 5:00 am Saturday and drove the new John Deere over to the community garden lot in Lompoc at the corner of College and O St. and rototilled the entire lot to help prepare it for others. Several 10 ft. by 15 ft. plots will soon be claimed by residents and they will plant, weed and grow vegetables and flowers for their own consumption. Dell also helped auger over 30 post holes for fence posts. Dell was stung by a yellow-jacket and needed much sympathy for the rest of the weekend, not to mention the sore muscles from the augering.

New John Deere Tractor purchased

Becky purchased a new John Deere Tractor October 1st. It is a 3320 model and has a hydraulic gannon box. It is bigger and has more horsepower than my old tractor which was only a J.D. 650. I can’t wait to get a big job that I can use it on. I also bought a new flatbed trailer to haul the tractor on.

Becky’s Water Features

Let Becky design a beautiful water feature for your backyard area.

Becky’s Creative Landscape & Design

About…

Becky Van Cleave, Becky

Becky Van Cleave was born in Lompoc, Ca. in 1967 and lived in Orcutt, Santa Maria and Los Alamos until she graduated from Righetti High School in 1985 and immediately enlisted in the United States Army. She became a military police officer and spent a year in South Korea.