- Author: Chris M. Webb
Improving water quality is an important step towards building and maintaining sustainable natural ecosystems. We can all help reach water quality improvement goals by making small changes in our behavior. Small changes multiplied by many people make a big difference!
What is urban runoff? Urban runoff is the water that washes away all the chemicals we use, which then flows into storm drains and creeks and then out to the ocean. These chemicals include: home pesticides, fertilizers, cleaning products, oil and many other products. Urban runoff is a significant contributor to poor water quality.
This rainy season is a good time to think about our contributions to urban runoff and to make some small changes. Here are some good places to start:
- look into ways to reduce home pesticide use
- learn about composting to improve soil quality and possibly reduce the need for fertilizers
- find safer alternatives for cleaning products.
- keep mechanical equipment in good repair.
Our office has great resources to help further improve water quality.
A collection of "green sheets" designed to help people make small changes to improve water quality
Management Practices to Portect Water Quality: A Manual for Greenhouses and Nurseries
Orchard Water Quality Management
Please contact our office if you would like further information.
- Author: Chris M. Webb
The Ventura County Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners Speakers Bureau will present a talk on using native plants in your garden.
The talk will be held on Tuesday March 16, 2010 from 1:30pm to 3:00pm at the Simi Senior Center. The center is located at 3900 Avenida Simi, Simi Valley.
Please contact Vickie Howard to attend this event.
- Author: Chris M. Webb
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has nutrition information and educational resources available for individuals and organizations under their Making Your Calories Count program. Publications and shipping are free of charge.
The website provides good information for people looking to learn more about how to improve their food choices. The resources are flexible allowing people to use on their own, or as a training guide for groups. It is full of good suggestions to improve long-term eating habits and nutrition.
The Spot the Block campaign is a sub-section that is designed specifically to reach the 9-13 year-old age group.
- Author: Chris M. Webb
People who eat food grown or raised locally are called locavores. A Ventura County couple has recently launched a project intended to strengthen local food systems called Locavore Lite 2010. Participation in the project is of course not required to support local food, but joining is a way to express commitment in a powerful and collective way.
Locavore Lite 2010 participants are asked to:
- Give some consideration to where your non-local foods come from
- For a minimum of 12 times in 2010, do one, or any combination of the following: shop at a farmers market; receive produce from a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farmer; harvest food from a local farm, garden or yard
- eat at least 3 all-local-food meals during 2010.
Eating local provides many personal and communal benefits. To find out more, please see our previous post Local Food Systems.
- Author: Chris M. Webb
Iowa State University’s Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture and the Center for Transportation Researchand Education have designed a great tool for estimating food demand at the county level throughout the U.S. The U.S. Food Market Estimator is a flexible and expansive system allowing users to view results in a variety of ways.
The following is taken from their site:
Who might use this tool?
• Farmers and other local direct-market food producers: Useful for identifying approximate market size in nearby counties in making decisions about marketing, capacity and potential expansion
• Governmental agencies (transportation, municipal and regional planning, public works): Useful in determining approximate food market size and impact of food production/processing on roads and other infrastructure.
• Food policy councils, nonprofit organizations, university researchers, economic development groups: Useful for analyzing approximate potential markets. Data can be used in assessing economic impacts related to changes in food availability, diet and marketing. Research scenarios might include selecting local purchasing targets for schools, retail, food service and other food markets at the county, state or national level.
Our previous and cost and return post or our business and marketing post may be of further help to you.