- Author: Mimi Enright
They were there to accept the first place award in the 'Community Service' category of the IMG's Search for Excellence for the Garden Sense program. They were proud to represent the hard work & commitment of all of the Garden Sense consultants who make the water conservation program such a huge success. There were over 900 Master Gardeners in attendance at the conference from the United States, Canada and South Korea.
- Author: Mimi Enright
This video demonstrates how home and community gardeners can grow a thriving vegetable garden with less water. In addition, this video is complemented by a planting scheme and a drip system instruction and shopping list that reflects the 4x8-foot demonstration vegetable bed in the video.
For people wondering if they can have a food garden with limited available water, the Food Gardening Specialists (FGS) of the UCCE Sonoma Master Gardeners believe that the answer is, “Yes!” All you need to do is to scale planting to your family's likes and needs and to apply water-wise strategies to your vegetable garden. The video, along with helpful water-wise publications, is available for viewing on the SCMG website: Food Gardening with Less Water.
You CAN have a bountiful, water-wise vegetable garden in a drought!
/span>- Author: Linda Peterson
This county-owned property is in the California tiger salamander (CTS) habitat and has had a history of seasonal wetlands, the group believes that this incubator farm project can be a model for other farmers and ranchers in our county who's land is also in CTS habitat.
UCCE's Technical Advisory committee will meet this month, and following that, a meeting to discuss next steps with the District.
Learn more at Sonoma County Bounty - Farm Business Incubator
- Author: Judy Ludovise
Introducing the 2015-2016 Sonoma County 4-H All-Star Team, Blake Mae Southard, Melanie Hanlon and Savannah Schell (pictured r to l). Blake is a senior at Windsor High School and a member of Alexander Valley 4-H Club, Melanie is a member of Liberty 4-H Club and is a junior at Petaluma High School, and Savannah is a senior at Sonoma Valley High School and a member of Sonoma Valley 4-H Club.
The team, along with our Rising Stars (ages 13+ interested in leadership), started out with a team building and planning event hosted at Wing and Barrel Ranch. On August 29th, the team was at the Sonoma County 4-H Foundation BBQ. The team greeted guests, and were there to answer questions about the event and our county wide 4-H program. Later in the evening, the team helped with the live program and even modeled a selection of Sara Lee's hats (pictured here). The team is well into a busy year and looking forward to increasing the visibility of 4-H across the county.
The Sonoma County All Star Program is a working honor, which provides Sonoma County 4-H members more opportunities to expand their leadership, and to serve in a variety of ways throughout Sonoma County 4-H programs. 4-Hers 15 and older may apply.
- Author: Diego Mariscal
Our success is also attributed to the partnership between 4-H and the Social Advocates for Youth who placed teens as mentors for the summer programs. Through partnerships and community involvement the 4-H program will be opening three more new 4-H Afterschool Clubs in August catering to the needs of youth in Sonoma County.
The unprecedented growth of the 4-H Outreach programs has already been noted by the National 4-H Council who will come to visit Sonoma County's Afterschool 4-H programs on September 29th.
If you are interested to learn more about the 4-H Afterschool programs and/or would like to become a mentor, contact Diego Mariscal, the program coordinator.
Pictured: Members of the local elementary school 4-H Summer Program enjoy an end of the summer potluck.