- Author: Dohee Kim
UC Cooperative Extension's Network for a Healthy California--Children's Power Play! Campaign, in partnership with LA's BEST After School Program kicked off the third annual "Power Up Your Summer!" Challenge on Friday, June 10. The event empowered kids to add more play and eat more fruits and vegetables this summer to beat the "summer slump" in physical activity and healthy eating.
Youth leaders, U.S. Olympian Cyclist Tony Cruz and Chivas mascot were there to guide kids in super-charged, fun group games and activities.
Kids gain weight more than twice as fast during the summer as they do during the regular school year.
"For many students, summer break is also a break from healthy habits fostered in the structured school environment," said Ben Melendrez, program coordinator. "Instead of scheduled meals and snacks, children at home may have continuous access to unhealthy snacks. In place of recess, they spend more time watching television and playing video games. It all adds up to more calories consumed and less burned."
Eating more fruits and vegetables not only beats the "summer slump" and childhood obesity; it also helps kids feel good, reduce stress, improve strength and increase self-esteem. The event provided kids and their families resources, tools and guidance to ensure they meet their personal goals for healthy eating and physical activity this summer.
Elementary school children should get 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day. They should also eat two-and-a-half to five cups of fruits and vegetables every day.
"Parents can help their kids stay on track this summer by including more fruits and vegetables in meals and snacks, limiting screen time and by being positive role models," said Melendrez. "One of the best ways for parents to help kids get active and maintain healthy eating habits is by enrolling them in a summer activity program, which provides scheduled play and snacks as well as a safe place for them to learn and grow while parents are at work."
For more information on the Network for a Healthy California--Power Play! Campaign, please call (323) 260-3841 or click here.
- Author: Rachel A. Surls
Nothing heralds the coming of summer in Los Angeles quite like the bloom of our jacaranda trees. Jacarandas produce loads of incredible purple flowers in May and June, with trees lining entire streets in some parts of town. Our in-house tree expert at UC Cooperative Extension, Environmental Horticulture Advisor Donald Hodel, likes jacarandas not only because of their flowers, but also because they have a nice canopy—lacy, airy, and not too dense-which lets light through and makes it possible to grow other plants underneath.
Don shared some suggestions for anyone who might be considering a jacaranda as part of their landscape.Jacarandas require adequate space. Keep in mind that they will grow 30 feet tall and up to 30 feet wide.
- When in bloom, the trees drop lots of flowers which can stain patios, cars, and even carpets if they are tracked into the house. It’s best to plant jacarandas where they can drop their flowers on lawns or groundcover.
- Jacarandas tend to produce water sprouts, vigorous upright shoots that grow straight up out of the branches. These should be thinned out if possible because they damage overall branch structure of the tree and are often weakly attached.
- Once established, jacarandas can get by on winter rain, but need to be irrigated during summer and fall.
- For established trees, it’s best to withhold water and fertilizer in the winter because this will ensure more flowers in the spring.
- Jacarandas are a South American tree, native to Argentina, and belong to the trumpet vine family along with other flowering trees such as Catalpa and Paulownia.
Click to learn more about Don Hodel and his research on urban trees.
- Author: Dohee Kim
Dennis Pittenger, UC Cooperative Extension’s area environmental horticulture advisor, is the recipient of the 2011 Arboriculture Research Award from the Western Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA). The award recognizes "outstanding contribution to research that has contributed substantially to the sum knowledge of
arboriculture." Pittenger received the award at the organization's 77th Annual Conference in La Jolla, Calif.
“I am honored to receive this award because it represents recognition from members of an industry I have attempted to serve in my research program,” said Pittenger. “Also, much of my research contribution is the result of effective collaborations with my UC colleagues,” he added.
Pittenger has been with UC Cooperative Extension for nearly 30 years. His research focuses on landscape water needs, tree species selection and tree root management. He has authored and co-authored more than 155 publications, including the well-known “California Master Gardener Handbook.”
Pittenger earned a bachelor’s degree in agriculture and a master’s in horticulture from Ohio State University.
For more information on Cooperative Extension’s offerings in environmental horticulture, please visit http://celosangeles.ucdavis.edu/. As part of the University of California, Cooperative Extension was established in 1914 to connect local communities to their state’s land grant university. An office in each county in California responds to the changing needs of its local populations, designing and carrying out research-based programs in the areas of food, health, agriculture, horticulture and the environment.
- Author: Dohee Kim
Dennis Pittenger, UC Cooperative Extension's area environmental horticulture advisor, released a new study, "Evaluation of Interspecific Hybrid Pears for Use in Southern California Landscapes." Pittenger looked at finding new varieties of ornamental pears in order to improve the performance and increase the use of these trees.
Conducted at the agricultural experiment station at the University of California at Riverside, he planted six promising, but untried hybrid pear selections from a breeding program by the nonprofit Landscape Plant Development Center and Washington State University. Unlike the Bradford ornamental pear and its close relative, the Kawakami pear, the new varieties have better disease resistance and branch structure. Their suitability, disease resistance and flowering abilities were evaluated for five years, and Pittenger concluded that three of the new hybrids are great trees for today's small-scale landscapes in Southern California.
"Three new hybrids showed slow growth, which keeps them small," said Pittenger. "Slow growth can be great in the landscape, but it might mean these trees are too slow for a nursery to grow profitably," he added.
For Pittenger, the next step is to communicate his findings to wholesale nursery growers and see if any want to try out these new varieties of ornamental pears. If the growers are interested, Pittenger will need to spend some time working out the best ways to properly grow the trees.
For more information on the study, please contact Dennis Pittenger at (951) 827-3320, dennis.pittenger@ucr.edu. To visit the Center for Landscape and Urban Horticulture, click on http://groups.ucanr.org/CLUH/.
- Author: Dohee Kim
Due to a renewed interest in food preservation, Cooperative Extension will bring back the Master Food Preserver (MFP) program to Los Angeles County.
Classes will begin on Monday, March 28, and meet every Monday until June 20, 2011. Conducted at UC Cooperative Extension office in East Los Angeles, the classes will be led by UC Master Food Perserver Ernest Miller, a formally trained chef. Miller has years of experience with home food preservation and is the chef at The Farmer's Kitchen, a project of Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles (the nonprofit organization that manages eight farmers markets in the Los Angeles area, and includes LA's largest market, the Sunday Hollywood Farmers Market). Participants will learn how to can, ferment, pickle, cure, smoke, dehydrate and brew.
"As the sole Master Food Preserver in Los Angeles for more than a year, I know that there is a tremendous interest in traditional methods of food preservation," said Miller. "We also teach people skills on proper emergency food preparation. The immense tragedy taking place in Japan illustrates the need for people to learn how to prepare for natural disasters in earthquake-prone California," he added.
Once trained, the Master Food Preservers will conduct food preservation workshops for the general public. The response to this program has been tremendous. Many preservation enthusiasts are looking forward to MFP-led workshops and are hoping to become certified MFPs in the future.
Support for the Master Food Preserver program is provided by the Metabollic Studio, a direct charitable activity of the Annenberg Foundation.
For more information, please contact Brenda Roche at (323) 260-3299, bkroche@ucdavis.edu.
