ANR news blog

UCCE experts comment on the roots of gardening

Opening with what must be an old Irish idiom, Santa Rosa Press-Democrat reporter Meg McConahey said her subject, local gardener Tom Berger, was just a "wee shaver" when he began collecting gardening wisdom.

He "always remembered The Green Grocer's TV admonishment to Bay Area housewives: 'Do NOT buy tomatoes out of season,'" she wrote.

The story said Berger is part of a wave of new gardeners raising food for themselves. The article includes information from UC Cooperative Extension experts Rose Hayden-Smith, the 4-H Youth Development advisor in Ventura County, and Paul Vossen, a tree crops farm advisor in Sonoma County.

Vossen, the county's Master Gardener coordinator, said the program's Web site is getting more hits and the advice line more and more queries related to vegetable growing.

"I think a lot of people did it before, but they've expanded their gardens," Vossen was quoted. "People who have small plots have gone out and planted more."

Hayden-Smith said the interest in vegetable gardening plays into a national revival of the Victory Garden movement, where increasing food production was seen as bolstering national security by creating a more secure food supply.

"It's a different 'Victory' now," she was quoted. "In addition to the really concrete, positive things that gardens can provide to people right now, they can certainly help with a family's bottom line with high food prices. And what I'm trying to encourage is increased food security in communities by looking at the idea of school, home and community gardens."

San Diego Tribune gets UCCE comments on saving cash

The San Diego Tribune ran a feature yesterday that included advice from a diversity of experts on ways to save money. One of the story's segments had advice from Patti Wooten Swanson, the UC Cooperative Extension nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor in San Diego County.

The segment was somewhat counterintuitive. It suggested against buying in bulk. "If the food spoils faster than you can eat it, or the 'use by' date passes on medicine before it's used up, you've wasted money," the article says. On the other hand, cooking in bulk is a good idea, Swanson told the paper.

"You can save money and time by doubling or quadrupling soup or casserole recipes and then freezing them in individual containers for later use," the article paraphrased Swanson.

Other money saving ideas and the sources covered in the story:

• Take control of your budget - moneymagpie.com, a British Web site
• Shop with a list - a registered dietitian and nutrition instructor at San Diego State University
• Pay cash - Money magazine
• Bring your lunch - California Public Interest Research Group
• Entertain youself - ShopSmart, a sister publication to Consumer Reports
• Slow down (when driving) - U.S. Energy Department
• Turn on the (thermostat) timer - U.S. Energy Department
• Maximize your interest (on savings accounts) - author of “Get Out of Debt and Stay Out of Debt”
• Don't panic (but seek counseling) - Homeownership Preservation Foundation

 

 

UC experts try to help settle poultry dust-up

The University of California was called in to help settle a dispute between neighbors in Rail Road Flat over hen and roosters' cackles and crows. According to an article in today's Stockton Record, three rural families have met in court twice to argue the case of the vociferous farm animals, only to come back with split decisions.

"I want to be a good neighbor. But at the same time, this place is zoned ag," the story quotes chicken owner Dave Redmond.

"I have to cover my ears or wear earplugs," Terry Baker was quoted.

The UC Cooperative Extension director for Calaveras County, Ken Churches, asked UC Davis poultry extension specialist Francine Bradley to try to smooth the ruffled feathers.

According to the story, Bradley wrote a number of recommendations early this year, from better-insulated coops to shielding the birds from light.

The article said the Redmonds haven't yet made the changes, but are now gradually moving the chicken coops to a place on their property further from their neighbors' homes.

Insurance study confirms UCCE fire-protection advice

An insurance industry study of the 2007 Witch Creek wildfire, which destroyed 1,700 structures in San Diego County, reached the same conclusion as UCCE's wood durability specialist Steve Quarles: wind-blown embers cause most home fires.

The report, released by the Institute for Business & Home Safety, was covered in a 1,000-word Stockton Record article written by Bruce Spence.

In addition to danger posed by flying embers, the study found that combustible fences and decks connected to houses were so effective in drawing a wildfire into structures that they "might as well be called wicks," according to the article.

The story included information about new state codes that regulate new structures being built in wildfire zones.

Quarles, quoted in the Stockton Record article, said the new state code will also benefit owners of existing homes, because it details what they need to do and what materials they need to retrofit a house to be more resistant to a wildfire.

"It was harder to do two years ago," Quarles was quoted in the story.

Because new home builders will need them, the code will also make fire-resistant construction materials readily available.

Egg puns pepper coverage of Prop 2 study

A sprinkling of newspapers ran stories today based on the ANR press release distributed yesterday on the potential economic effects of passing Proposition 2. Voters will decide in November whether to approve the initiative, which would require egg producers to employ cage-free production practices.

In addition to spreading news about the likely downfall of the California egg industry, the coverage revealed that there's something about eggs that begets puns.

The Sacramento Bee said the "November ballot measure meant to improve the lives of the state's laying hens likely would crack the state's egg industry."

The Woodland Daily Democrat's headline quips, "Initiative lays an egg for state producers."

The Stockton Record's jest was more subtle; its headline reads "Measure could send egg industry packing, study says." The Record's story, written by Reed Fujii, balances comments from the study's two authors with a proponent of the measure.

A radio clip on Inland News Today declares "egg-laying hens would be freed from their cages."

It looks like Proposition 2 will prompt a significant amount of debate in the coming months, but as they say, you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs.

Read more