- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Steady rain so far this fall has produced a verdant emerald green panorama on California rangeland, reported Capital Press this week.
Livestock producers are elated, said Josh Davy, a UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Tehama County.
"It's been nice to start the year with some big rains because it fills up the reservoirs, puts some drinking water out there and it helps build deeper soil moisture in case it doesn't rain later," Davy said. "We hope it keeps going until March."
The 2012 rainy autumn has helped much of Northern California emerge from drought conditions,...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
In a 1,500-word stream of consciousness, Bakersfield Magazine gardening writer Lynn Pitts warned her readers about the dangers of certain "toxic plants."
Sprinkled among personal experiences, trivia and witticisms, Pitts presented the 10 most common toxic plants found in local gardens: Oleander, tomatoes, potatoes, rhubarb, delphinium, boxwood, pyracantha, fig, foxglove and castor bean.
Among her words of wisdom:
- Oleander cuttings shouldn't be disposed of in green waste cans.
- Almost everything on tomato and potato plants are poisonous, expect the tomato and potato.
- Rhubarb leaves are...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The California Senate Agriculture Committee has approved a bill that would add oil olive trees to the list of crops that are subject to a 1 percent state levy, according to a statement released by Sen. Anthony Cannella, one of the two sponsors.
The release said the bill, SB 707, will add oil olive trees in the CDFA Foundation Plant Services program at UC Davis. The service helps provide the industry access to disease-free, virus tested, and true-to-type certification for oil olive trees developed through extensive research. SB 707 also expands the membership of the Fruit Tree, Nut Tree, and Grapevine Improvement Advisory Board, which oversees the program, to include...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The Sonoma Press-Democrat ran a brief story today about the beginning of the olive harvest in the Northern California County better known for vineyards. Although olive production in the area is no match in size for the long-established grape industry, the crop's novelty and quality attract attention.
“There are about 600 acres and 150 growers,” the story quoted Paul Vossen, UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor in Sonoma County. By comparison, the county boasts 60,000 acres of vineyards.
Vossen, an internationally...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Sometimes it’s the little side comments people make that are most telling. This could certainly be true in a brief Chico Enterprise-Record story published over the weekend about artisan olive growers. In the lead sentence, business editor Laura Urseny called UC Cooperative Extension “food and farm information central.” That’s a label I think we could get used to. For the brief, UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Paul Vossen told the writer that about 25 percent of California's olive oil comes from small artisan producers and nearly all California olive oil is fresher and better tasting than imported oil.