- Author: Corinne Yoshihara, UC Master Gardener of Napa County
What makes a berry a berry? Recently, the host of a new cooking show asked if a cranberry (the key ingredient in a cooking challenge) was really a berry. Her question piqued my curiosity.
Although I like berries, my attention to them is usually limited to their use as a yogurt topping or dessert. After researching the topic, I learned that some fruits we refer to as berries aren't berries, while other fruits we would consider very “un-berry-like” are true berries.
This discrepancy seems to have arisen from the difference between our common use of the word and its botanical definition. Of Germanic origin, the word berry originally meant “grape.” Over time and through repeated usage, berry came to...
- Author: James Farr
- Author: Linda Carloni
When the temperature starts to dip from the high 90s, and you are still picking ripe tomatoes and zucchini nearly every day, fall and winter gardens don't immediately come to mind. Although it may not feel like it, this is the time to be thinking ahead and planning for the next seasons.
We are wonderfully fortunate in the Bay Area that we live in a Mediterranean climate where we can grow vegetables all year round. Mediterranean climates make up only approximately three percent of the landmass on Earth, yet are among the best agricultural areas on Earth. The temperatures are warm in the inland areas but close enough to the ocean to cool down at...
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
There aren't that many nematologists who can say their career spans 64 years.
UC Davis Distinguished Professor Emeritus Howard Ferris can.
Internationally recognized for his “exceptional, wide-ranging and unparalleled contributions to nematology” over a 64-year career, Ferris is a newly elected Honorary Member of the Society of Nematologists (SON), the international organization's highest award.
Ferris received the well-deserved award at SON's 63rd annual conference, held in Park City, Utah.
“Dr. Ferris has devoted most of his adult life to the field...
- Author: Elizabeth Ann Moon
- Author: Pia Marie Wright
Being in education my whole career, August, the start of a new school year, makes me feel alive like a bee buzzing through a meadow of flowers. It is the excitement of opening my mind to new learning and new ways of thinking and doing. A time of possibilities and reflections.
This month's blog will encompass a short reflection from Pia Marie Wright, LGBTQ+ ERG Co-Chair, on her experience at an ERG Summit at UCOP, an invitation to a workshop on navigating and coping with stress, an opportunity to participate in a UCOP pilot e-course, and the...
- Author: Pamela S Kan-Rice
Smith aims to improve community health, nutrition in Central Valley
Jasmin Smith joined UC ANR on Aug. 1 as the community nutrition and health advisor for San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Merced counties. Smith will work to research, identify and address community health concerns – as well as support CalFresh Healthy Living programs and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) in the region.
“My focus is on promoting nutrition and health initiatives responsive to the unique needs of the communities and ensuring that the programs are impactful and sustainable,” Smith said.
Originally from Champaign, Illinois, Smith also lived in Thailand, the Dominican Republic...