ANR news blog

UCCE gardening efforts get blogged

Efforts by UC Cooperative Extension to encourage Californians to garden were, coincidentally, the topics of two blog entries this week.

An unsigned entry in the San Diego Roots Sustainable Foods Project blog noted that a two-hour planning meeting for the ONE Garden at a Time Project in San Diego County was held last Thursday at the "Farm and Home Advisors Conference Room." (I'm not sure that's what the conference room is really called, but it is a quaint name -- a throwback to UCCE's roots.)

In addition to UCCE and the Master Gardener program, the following organizations helped lay the project's groundwork:

• San Diego Roots
• Food Not Lawns
• Backyard Organics
• Plant Soup
• TLC Community Giving Garden
• Your Enchanted Gardener

In the blog Slow Food Nation, UCCE Ventura County advisor Rose Hayden-Smith authored an entry titled "Victory Gardens as Purpose," which appeared yesterday - the same day, as noted in the blog, that the Slow Food Nation Victory Garden broke ground in San Francisco.

Hayden-Smith wrote that some view Victory Gardens within the larger context of war and the unhealthy sort of nationalism that often parades as patriotism. She believes that Victory Gardens showcase patriotism in its truest sense, with each of person taking personal responsibility for doing a part to create a healthy, fair and affordable food system.

For more on Hayden-Smith's Victory Garden efforts and a three-minute video about getting started in the garden, see the spotlight story on the UC ANR Web site.

Rose Hayden-Smith in front of a demonstration Victory Garden.

Ventura Star reports on Phil Phillips' retirement

The Ventura Star today ran a story about the end of IPM entomologist Phil Phillips distinguished career with UC Cooperative Extension. The story says Phillips was fascinated with bugs since he was 7 years old.

"I've been blessed with a spectacular career," Phillips was quoted. "It's playing with insects basically."

The story was most likely prompted by a news release by UC IPM writer Stephanie Klunk, but Ventura Star reporter Terria Smith gathered her own comments from Phillips' colleagues.

Mary Bianchi, horticulture farm advisor in San Luis Obispo County:

"In order to be able to start effective control programs, you really have to understand insects: where they come from, how they live. That's where Phil's work was key: by building the framework where researchers could start their programs and integrate them into farming systems."

Earl McPhail, Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner:

"He's done great in making sure they know what to do as far as what to look for as new pests come in. . . . He's going to be difficult to replace."

Phil Phillips

First-in-the-state UCCE program recognized

The UC Cooperative Extension office in Humboldt County, opened on July 1, 1913, was the first in the state, according to a story in yesterday's Eureka Times-Standard. By October of that year, California's first 4-H club was established in Humboldt County.

It seems the county's first farm advisor, Andy Christianson, set the standard of hard work and dedication for his sucessors statewide. The story noted that a local historian came accross Christianson's travel schedule for May 1914.

"Christiansen was scheduled for 16 straight days of travel visiting farms and ranches from Capetown to Garberville to Arcata to Weitchpec and beyond. It appears Christiansen had a day off around the middle of the month, followed by 11 more days of nonstop travel," the story said.

Humboldt County UCCE director Alan Bower marked the 95th anniversary of the program at a recent meeting of the county Board of Supervisors.

He explained that the primary mission of UCCE is to bring knowledge and information to rural areas through the pipeline of the university.  Today, four advisors in Humboldt County's UCCE program provide information to the public in forestry, marine science, plant science, livestock and natural resources.

Fresno Bee captures the essence of UCCE

Fresno Bee reporter Dennis Pollock captured the mission, message and mindset of UC Cooperative Extension in a prominent article on the front page of the business section on Saturday.

The report was based on a field day in almond orchards near Firebaugh and Mendota, where UCCE advisors shared ways to minimize pesticide sprays, avoid plant diseases and make the best use of limited water resources.

Illustrated with an 8 1/2-by-6-inch color photo of Madera County farm advisor Brent Holtz, the story included information from four current and two former UC experts.

According to Pollock's story:

• UC entomologist Walt Bentley demonstrated the use of egg traps to determine when best to spray for navel orangeworm.
• Holtz warned that hull rot can be worse if too much water is applied, referring to the condition as "good growers disease."
• Retired UC plant pathologist Beth Teviotdale called hull rot the "gout of almond diseases," adding that, "too much food and drink is bad for almonds just like it is bad for us."
• Retired Kern County farm advisor Mario Viveros recommended tying the branches of young trees to prevent wind damage.
• Merced County farm advisor David Doll talked about crown rot and phytophthora.
• A grower credited IPM advisor Pete Goodell for suggesting he use alfalfa as a nursery for good bugs.

My only quibble with the coverage would be with the headline, which proclaimed in inch-high letters, "Nutty advice." Cute, but impertinent.

UC Berkeley forestry expert quoted about fires

The Contra Costa Times ran a story today about the 2008 fire season, which many suspect will be long and burdensome. One of the experts quoted was William Stewart, a UC Cooperative Extension forestry specialist at UC Berkeley. The version of the story which appeared in the San Jose Mercury News, also under John Simermon's byline, says Stewart is a former research head with CalFire.

The story said a 114-year record low in precipitation statewide from March through May has launched what fire experts figure to be an extended summer of blazes and bad air

"Everybody is on full summer operational plans by now," Stewart was quoted in the story. "The challenge is, by the time August comes around, if everybody's been working overtime continuously, people are going to get sick, injured. They're going to be just exhausted. Machinery breaks. You always have a few aircraft accidents. Every once in a while they roll a fire truck. Bulldozers get jammed. Those are going to add up."

The Santa Cruz Sentinel also moved the story, under Genevieve Bookwalter's byline, with the same quote from Stewart. Her story noted that MediaNews contributed to the report.

Read more