- (Focus Area) Environment
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
In its larval stage, it's a pest of cole crops.
As an adult, it's like a little Cinderella.
That would be the cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae.
In the fairy tale, a ragged Cinderella lives with her selfish stepmother and two mean stepsisters. Cinderella wants to attend the palace ball, but has nothing appropriate to wear. So her fairy godmother waves a magic wand and transforms her into a beautifully gowned princess, complete with glass slippers. She rides in a magnificent carriage pulled by a team of beautiful horses, dances with the prince, and at the stroke of midnight (when the magic ends), she loses a glass slipper. You know the rest. It all ends with Cinderella and the prince exchanging marriage vows and living happily after.
This butterfly appears in the spotlight every January when UC Davis emeritus professor Art Shapiro hosts his annual "Beer for a Butterfly" contest. Collect the first live butterfly of the year in the three-county area of Sacramento, Yolo and Solano and win a pitcher of beer. (See Bug Squad blog) It's all part of his scientific research long-term studies of butterfly life cycles and climate change.
Meanwhile, we see the cabbage white butterfly fluttering around the garden throughout most of the year, stopping for a little nectar here, a little nectar there.
She still reminds us of Cinderella, with a long flowing gown. Sometimes she looks a little ragged when a predator snatches part of her gown. But her magic never seems to end.
Welcome to the Organic Materials Management Blog! This is a place for sharing science and policy information on finding valuable uses for organic wastes in California. It's a blog so I will be a bit informal here, at least compared to refereed journal articles. I plan to include some descriptions of my projects as they develop, as well as news and technical information. I plan to write about topics as I confront them, or as they occur to me.
Now let's get busy. There is a lot to do.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The bees.
When longtime beekeeper and retired teacher Ettamarie Peterson displayed a bee observation hive at the Vacaville Museum Guild's Children's Party, the youngsters, ages 3 to 9, got a taste of what it's like inside a bee colony--along with a taste of honey.
The youngsters singled out the queen bee, worker bees (females) and drones (males). They asked such questions as "Where's the queen?" and "Can they get out and hurt me?" and "How many bees are in there?"
Ettamarie, known as the "Queen Bee of Sonoma County," described the queen and pointed out "Look, she's laying eggs--she can lay 1000 eggs a day."
And she assured them that yes, the bees would be staying inside.
"I like to tell the public how they have a pipe through my barn wall so when they are not visiting events and schools they can fly if they are over three weeks old and then explain how in the spring and summer they live only three or so more weeks and make just a tiny bit of honey," she related. "Another question I usually get asked is if there are more than one queen and then I explain how there can be a daughter queen if the old one is about to die and show the photo of the queen cell with the royal jelly."
As for the number of bees, "Maybe 2000 but I told a guy on Saturday to count their legs and divide by 6!"
Ettamarie taught school for 37 years, has kept bees for 30 years, and has volunteered as the leader of a 4-H beekeeping project for the Liberty 4-H Club, Petaluma, for the past 25 years. Already this year she has caught 19 swarms and given them to the 4-H'ers.
Ettamarie said she "started beekeeping before I retired in 1998 from 37 years of teaching. “My teaching career was mostly in special education, following a few years teaching second and first grade. I became one of the first resource teachers in California back in 1980 after getting my master's degree in special education."
Ettamarie is also a longtime friend and supporter of UC Davis. She delivered a tribute to the late Eric Mussen (1946-2022), a 38-year California Cooperative Extension apiculturist and member of the Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty.
Active in the beekeeping industry, Ettamarie has served as president and treasurer of Sonoma County Beekeepers' Association (SCBA) and currently edits the SCBA newsletter, The Monthly Extractor. She and her husband, Ray (a non-beekeeper), enjoy life on the Peterson Ranch. "We've been married for 65 years and have 3 children, 9 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren! What a wonderful life I have!”
While she chatted with the children and the adults, Dr. George Stock, a retired Vacaville-Fairfield physician costumed in a California Master Beekeeper Program bee suit, handed out honey sticks, gifts from the Z Food Specialty/The Hive, Woodland.
Peterson also shared scientific information (some the work of UC Davis emeritus professor Norm Gary), and a cut-out bee from the Sonoma Farm Bureau. Youngsters delighted in posing for pictures as a bee. They also switched to a butterfly (a cut-out banner of the California dogface butterfly loaned by the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis).
Pamela King and Diana McLaughlin co-chaired the children's party, themed "Fun on the Farm." The activities? The children petted the Vaca Valley Grange animals, blew bubbles, planted seeds, played a ring toss game, created chalk drawings, decorated paper crowns, and engaged with Mother Goose and the Vacaville Public Library staff. Meanwhile, the Rainbow Girls painted faces and the School of Rock presented a live perormance. A special treat: The Vacaville Police Department, Solano County Sheriff's Office and the California Highway Patrol provided them with replica law enforcement badges and other gifts. The CHP fitted the kids with free bicycle helmets.
All in all, it was a buzzworthy event.
- Author: DIANA CERVANTES
Recientemente, un grupo de asesores del Departamento de Agricultura y Recursos Humanos de la Universidad de California realizó una visita a San Pasqual Valley Soil, ubicado en Escondido, California. El objetivo principal de esta visita fue conocer de primera mano las prácticas y técnicas relacionadas con el manejo de suelos y el compostaje, un proceso fundamental para la sostenibilidad agrícola y la protección del medio ambiente.
El compostaje es un proceso controlado de descomposición de materiales orgánicos, como estiércol, residuos de cultivos, cama animal y otros desechos, llevado a cabo por microorganismos en presencia de oxígeno. Este proceso no solo contribuye a la reducción de desechos orgánicos, sino que también produce compost, un aditivo orgánico valioso que mejora la salud del suelo y la productividad agrícola.
Roxana Price, asesora en Educación Comunitaria de EFNEP y coordinadora bilingüe del programa Trees for Tomorrow de UC ANR, subrayó la importancia de la participación comunitaria: “Todos debemos poner de nuestra parte. A veces, eso significa simplemente separar los desechos de comida y la basura adecuadamente antes de que llegue el camión recolector”. Price también señaló que UC ANR cuenta con los recursos y la capacidad para orientar a la comunidad sobre cómo hacer su propio compost. “Podemos guiar a las personas sobre dónde y cómo deben desechar su basura, la importancia de separarla correctamente y cómo estas acciones contribuyen de manera significativa al cuidado del medio ambiente”.
Durante la visita, se abordó también la Ley SB 1383, una legislación clave en la lucha contra el cambio climático en California. Esta ley tiene como objetivo reducir las emisiones de metano, un gas de efecto invernadero extremadamente potente, al disminuir los contaminantes climáticos de corta duración. La SB 1383 establece que los condados y ciudades de California deben cumplir con un mandato que exige la compra, uso o donación de una cantidad específica de productos orgánicos residuales recuperados, alcanzando al menos 0,08 toneladas (160 libras) por residente al año.
La visita a San Pasqual Valley Soil ofreció a los asesores del Departamento de Agricultura y Recursos Humanos de la Universidad de California una valiosa oportunidad para aprender y compartir conocimientos sobre prácticas sostenibles esenciales para enfrentar los desafíos ambientales actuales. Estas experiencias son fundamentales para continuar promoviendo la investigación y la educación en torno a la agricultura sostenible y la conservación de recursos naturales en el estado de California.
Para más información sobre compostaje visite ucanr.edu.
- Author: Elizabeth J Fichtner
Mireya Molina, a rising senior at El Diamonte High School, joined UCCE Tulare County as a 2024 summer research intern serving the nut, olive, and prune research and extension program. Mireya has a strong science background and is an active member of her high school horticulture and FFA programs. She has served as a volunteer at fundraisers for the local SPCA and at Happy Trails Riding Academy as well as at a youth science fair hosted by the Visalia Unified School District. Mireya has taken advantage of the AP and agricultural education coursework at El Diamonte High School and expresses an interest in pursuing a BS in animal science at Chico State University in fall 2025. During the summer of 2024, Mireya served as a volunteer intern in the research and extension program of Elizabeth Fichtner, UC ANR Farm Advisor, working on enumerating insects for a pest management study on walnuts. Mireya's work contributes to the understanding of the best timing for application of insect growth regulators (IGR) for management of walnut scale, specifically determining the value of dormant applications versus delayed dormant application of Centaur®, an IGR produced by Nichino America. Her work will help walnut growers gain the maximum value out of each application of the insecticide, thus reducing overall insecticide inputs for management of the pest.