Looking for ways to lower your water bill? Make your home’s landscape more fire-resistant? Then a free workshop at the Sikes Adobe Historic Farmstead is for you.

The San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy is opening a second free session for its Next to Nature workshop on Sunday, March 13 after the first quickly filled up.

Joseph Rivera, SDRVC’s interim conservation manager who is organizing the event, said “not in the slightest” did he imagine the first session set for 10 a.m. to noon would be so popular.

The free second session will be held from noon to 2 p.m. Rivera said there will also be a wait list formed and “if people just come who are not on the list they will be more than welcome.”

Topics and presenters will be:

• Water management and conservation with Brook Sarson from Catching H2O. Her presentation focuses on rain water and gray water harvesting.

“Water harvesting can be done in so many ways,” Rivera said. “From a simple system connected to gutters or even a small area.”

Utilizing gray water in landscaping — which is domestic wastewater from sinks and washing machines, for example, but not from toilets — is a way to save water and keep it from just flowing into the ocean, he said.

• Fire risk reduction with Conor Lenehan of the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District. He will talk about fuel reduction and fire safety.

Rivera said it is not surprising the term “spreading like wildfire” is associated with invasive plants since they grow in such abundance and contribute to wildfire risk. Attendees can learn more about the appropriate plants to have near structures and plant guidelines to create a 100-foot zone for fire prevention.

• Landscape site design with Cody Harrison of Cornona Enterprises, who will talk about site design.

• Permaculture with Diane Kennedy from the Finch Frolic Garden. Permaculture includes the study of soil, nutrients and microorganisms. An example is the mycorrhizal fungi, beneficial for the expansion of tree root systems, Rivera said.

“It is super beneficial for San Diego native plants,” he said.

• Water harvesting with Pam Meisner from the San Diego Water Conservation Garden. She will talk about unique and easy ways to capture water.

• Upcycling eucalyptus trees with Tom Hamilton from Lymbercycle. Rivera said eucalyptus are an invasive tree species in San Diego and very flammable, therefore posing a “huge fire risk.”

Through upcycling, the removed trees are repurposed into logs for hiking trails or turned into tables, desks and skateboards, and replaced with more appropriate trees, he said.

“These are the six most important topics and places where people can work (at their homes),” Rivera said. “There are a number of actions they can take ... with water, plants and landscape design.”

He said there will be suggestions for each that can fit any budget.

“These are manageable, easy ... whichever work for you,” Rivera said.

The in-person event is an expansion on a webinar series the conservancy offered last summer. Rivera said he recommends workshop attendees watch the videos in advance for the topics they are interested in. They include the question and answer sessions that occurred when the livestreams were initially held. This way attendees will have background on the topics and can bring additional questions not already posed when they speak one-on-one with the presenters.

The workshop will be held at the Sikes Adobe Historic Farmstead, 12655 Sunset Drive in Escondido. It is part of the San Dieguito River Park.

To register, go to tinyurl.com/SDRVC-Mar13. To view the webinar topic videos in advance, go to tinyurl.com/SVRVP-next2nature.

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