- Author: Kyla Vinson, President 4-H Conejo Valley Club
The Conejo Valley 4-H club is located in Thousand Oaks.
This year our theme is: Fine Art. We have worked with water colors, made tie-dye shirts and this month we will decorate blown out eggs.
The Conejo Valley 4-H club participates in many community service projects including: Trick or Treat So Others Can Eat, Project Linus, we recycle books and eyeglasses, pet shelter supply drives, People-to people lunches and Stockings 4 Troops.
Some of the projects we currently have in the club are: International Foods, Leadership, Pet Therapy, Sewing, Marine Biology, and Poultry.
Our members participate in Small Animal Science Field Day and County
Presentation Day.
This article is part of our Featured Club Happenings series in our Ventura County 4-H Clover Lines newsletter. These newsletters and others produced by our office can be found on our website.
- Author: Chris M. Webb
The Ventura County Health Care Agency has a wonderful new online resource intended to improve the wellbeing of our community.
From their site:
“Wellness Everyday is committed to supporting the mental, physical and social health of all individuals living within our community. By providing education, resources and information on the latest programs and projects offered within our community, we believe the Wellness of our Ventura County community can belong to each of us.”
The site is nicely designed and easy to navigate. The three main sections: mind, body, and relationships each have many suggestions and links for further resources.
Subtopics include: parenting, exercise, nutrition, creativity, resilience, sleep, and much more. There is even a section dedicated to healthy aging.
This fabulous online resource is available in Spanish.
- Author: Chris M. Webb
Presented by the Ventura County Ag Futures Alliance last month’s agricultural summit set out to increase connections and support between the local agricultural industry and the larger community.
Approximately 250 community stakeholders (farmers, ranchers, distributors, buyers, chefs, policy makers, public health advocates, community planners, and others) attended the Making Connections: How the Local Food Movement Can Support Ventura County Agriculture themed event.
Agriculture is an important part of our local economy. Like any other industry, agriculture has its share of challenges and opportunities. Shared dialog between producers and consumers within our area provides a wonderful bridge to reduce and minimize challenges while finding ways to increase awareness and collaboration. Attendees discussed distribution systems, public health, land use, childhood obesity, urban encroachment, pesticides, labor needs, water, and the need for fresh food education and marketing,
Additional information about the summit, and the issues discussed, can be found at the Ag Innovations Network website, this Ventura County Star article, and this radio piece by KCLU.
Support for this program came from many in the community. Sponsors include the UC Thelma Hansen Fund. The purpose of the Hansen Fund is to support and maintain University research and extension activities for the sustainability and benefit of agriculture and natural resources in Ventura County. A complete list of donors can be found here.
- Author: Chris M. Webb
Designed to deliver alerts to residents quickly, VC Alert has the ability to share threats to the health and safety of entire communities seamlessly and efficiently. Alerts can be received by one or more of the following: home phone, cell phone, work phone, email, text message, fax, or instant messaging.
In addition to emergency information users can choose to receive any of these additional categories: crime alerts, road closures, public meetings, and community events.
Perhaps the best part of this system is the ability to define the locations and types of notices you are interested to receive. For instance, you may request alerts near: your home, workplace, children’s school, or areas in which other family or friends reside.
It is easy to sign up for this service. You may sign up using the internet , by phone 805.648.9293, or by mail. The address to mail a request is Ventura County Sheriff’s OES; 800 South Victoria Avenue #3450; Ventura, CA 93009. Residents are able to sign up in English, or in Spanish.
- Author: Chris M. Webb
The 2011 UC Master Gardener Vegetable Demonstration Garden Project has recently finished. A group of certified Master Gardeners and trainees spent time each week from January 27 through December 15 learning vegetable gardening techniques through hands-on experience.
They documented their project so that they could impart lessons learned throughout the2011 project. This article is the eighth, and final, in a series to share this knowledge.
Seed storage:
Saving and storing seeds can provide additional fun and learning opportunities to vegetable gardening.
- Be sure that seeds being used are not beyond their expiration date.
- Consider saving seeds from plants with superior characteristics (e.g., hardy during cool temperatures).
- If you plan to save the seeds from your corn plants, you need to take steps to avoid cross-pollination from other corn plants. To keep heirloom corn pure, you have two options: 1) bag the ears and tassels, and hand pollinate, or 2) arrange it so your corn blooms earlier than any other corn around you.
- The female flowers of each crop can be fertilized only by pollen from male flowers of the same species. Cross pollination, however, can occur between varieties within a species. When crosses occur between members of the same species, we do not see the effect of the cross the first year. However, if the seeds are saved and planted, the plants will produce fruit that will be different from either of the parents.
- There is no reason to soak zucchini seeds in water prior to storage since the pulp can readily be separated from the seed. The pulp on tomato seeds, however, is tightly attached to the seeds making it necessary to soak the seeds for a few days. Once the pulp begins to ferment, it is easily separated from the tomato seeds.
- After soaking tomato seeds in water for two or three days, the viable seeds will sink to the bottom of the container. Dispose of the tomato seeds that float to the surface.
- The way to tell if zucchini seeds are viable is to look for plump seeds. Small flat zucchini seeds will most likely not germinate or will be of poor quality. Since viable zucchini seeds will float in water, the float test used to differentiate poor quality tomato seeds from viable seeds should not be used.
Questions on gardening? Please contact our Master Gardener helpline at 645-1455 or contact them by email at mgventura@ucdavis.edu.