- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The UC Small Farm Program this year offered a "Week of Blueberries," with four blueberry field days in one week at four different locations. Even though the Week of Blueberries came to an end last Friday, the information is still reaching the public today in an Adobe Press news story.
The article covered the Nipomo event, and noted that the other field days were offered in Santa Paula, Camarillo and Parlier.
“We’ve been working 10 years to establish blueberries as a coastal crop for small farms,” UC small farm advisor Mark Gaskell is quoted. “There is an increasing number of...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The Los Angeles Times today ran an interesting piece on guerrilla gardening, the practice of surreptitiously planting flowers or vegetables on vacant land. The story focused on a Norwalk man who has secretly tended a cactus garden on a Long Beach street median for 10 years.
For the story, freelance writer Joe Robinson spoke to UC Cooperative Extension Ventura County advisor Rose Hayden-Smith.
"It reminds me of the Vacant Lot Cultivation societies," Hayden-Smith was quoted. In the wake of the economic meltdown of the 1890s, many American cities, from Detroit to Philadelphia and Boston, formed Vacant Lot...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The San Francisco Chronicle today includes a brief story about new meat clubs forming in the Bay Area.The idea is borrowed from small-scale farms who offer subscriptions to their farms in programs called community supported agriculture (CSA). The subscriber receives a box with a variety of fruits and vegetables each week. Instead of farm-fresh produce, the meat CSAs offer speciality meats, like grass-fed beef, free-range chicken, local pork or goat meat.
The Chronicle article details three Bay area meat CSAs and touches on a Sonoma County meat club initiated by UC Cooperative...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
UC Berkeley Cooperative Extension natural resources specialist Doug McCreary knew it was a matter of life or death . . . . This spring, landowners were wondering whether they should yank out oak trees that were uncharacteristically brown or bare.
McCreary took quick action to save trees' lives. He gathered information for a news release assuring people the die-back was probably not a sign of Sudden Oak Death and urging them to wait at least a year before pulling out trees. The story was picked up by the Associated Press and run in several Northern California newspapers, including the
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
UC Cooperative Extension natural resources advisor for Sutter and Yuba counties Glenn Nader provided expert commentary to San Francisco TV station KRON Channel 4 yesterday, providing a wealth of fire safety information to the Bay Area community during a teachable moment.
The story was prompted by the Santa Cruz summit fire. Nader noted on the air that he conducts field research for UC and works with homeowners and communities to reduce the risk of structure damage when a fire occurs.
"You will never be able to get rid of all the risk," Nader told the reporters during the live phone interview. "You're just reducing the risk to your house by doing...
