This is a strange week – I'm looking forward to Saturday while simultaneously finding the week to be flying by. I've spent the bulk of the last 3 days with a group of new academics at the Programmatic Orientation. I don't know about the group of participants but it appeared to me as a whole lot of information to absorb. I suspect one could attend a couple of times and get something different out of the event each time. I suspect the most valued part of the time was the networking with others. And the tour was great – despite having such short time to line things up and prepare due to a change in venue at the last minute. Kudos to the Program Support Unit for their efforts!

One of the tour stops was a visit with Susie Kocher #UCSierraforest. She talked to us about a 2014 fire and the current reforestation effort in the area. The big excitement was the helicopter that was onsite in case a fire broke out. The chopper carried 5 to 7 persons to deploy them to the fire area and 260 gallons of water to put out small grass fires. It was a beautiful view. Our new fire Advisor Kate Wilkins and new forestry Specialist Jodi Axelson had quite a bit to contribute to the conversation as well.

Susie Kocher talks about the 2014 fire

Next we visited Apple Hill in El Dorado County. Lynn Wunderlich talked about how she started her program 17 years ago and the value of long-time collaborations with producers like the one she has with Ron from Gold Bud Mountain Fruit (seated next to her in the photo). One of the things that really impressed me was how many of the new Advisors, like Luke Milliron, and Specialists, including Houston Wilson, that Lyn already knew. I'm glad even those outside of orchard and vineyard expertise had a chance to learn a few things from Lyn.

Lynn Wunderlich talks about the importance of producer partners

Our lunch stop included a tour of Sherwood Demonstration Gardens in Placerville where Master Gardener Coordinator Tracy Celio showed us around, talked about the history of the garden and the breadth of programming that takes place. We had a chance to meet some of the hardworking volunteers.

Tracy Celio shows us Sherwood Gardens

After lunch we were at UC Davis where we met Katherine Pope at the UC Plant Pathology farm, Sam Sandoval and Jeff Mitchell at Russell Ranch, and Margaret Lloyd at the Center for Land Based Learning. It was a long and informative day.

I think the session most enjoyed by participants today was a panel of Advisors and Specialists that provided career tips. Leslie Roche #UCDRange, Dorina Espinoza, David Doll, Andrew Sutherland, David Lewis and Sam Sandoval did a great job sharing their experiences and wisdom with the group. David Lewis shared that Steven Covey's 7 Habits and David Allen's Getting Things Done have turned out to be important reads for him. I'm going to check out David Allen's ideas and see if I can pick up a few things to help me. Maybe he has a TED Talk so that I can save time from reading it.