- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The devastating wind-driven Angora Fire of 2007, which destroyed 254 homes near Lake Tahoe, left behind fertile ground for the growth of community spirit. Evidence of that is a new community garden being developed on land where the home of Owen Evans stood since 1978, according to a story in the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza. The home was one of Angora's casualties, but before he died of congestive heart failure in December, Evans decided his lot should be turned into a community garden.
“His passion was the environment,” his daughter was quoted in the...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
President-elect Barack Obama has a few things to attend to in the coming months - wars, health care, education, poverty, to name a few. Many green thumbs would also like to see him tending a White House garden, or at least authorizing one.
A campaign encouraging Obama to plant a garden, launched by Roger Doiron, an organic gardener from Scarborough, Maine, has 20,000 supporters, according to an opinion piece in the Huffington Post. In the column, writer Paula Crossfield referred to an article by UC Cooperative Extension county director Rose Hayden-Smith, a history expert who is actively supporting a movement to...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
If you're out of ideas but still have names on your giving list, a Fresno Bee story reprinted this week in the Denver Post is a reminder that with good tools, you can never go wrong. For the woodworker, cook, seamstress, photographer, computer geek and backpacker, the latest top-quality tools are always appreciated. The same goes for gardeners - whether they do little more than mandatory weed clearing or strive to grow all their own food.
For the article, UC Cooperative Extension horticulture advisor Michelle LeStrange shared with reporter Nzong Ziong her personal top garden tool picks. In no particular order, she listed a Hula-ho, hand-held pruners, a...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
A Philadelphia Inquirer article published late last week included comments from UC Cooperative Extension resident historian Rose Hayden-Smith, a 4-H Youth Development advisor in Ventura County.
Hayden-Smith's expertise is sought from time to time when media outlets are writing trend pieces on growing interest in gardening. In this one, reporter Ginny Smith writes about front-yard vegetable gardening and an activist's call for the next president to plant a garden on the front lawn of the White House.
Hayden-Smith said several presidents "probably had vegetable, herb or kitchen gardens."
"Early presidents were responsible for...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
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...