Have you ever listened to the news at night and wondered why it wasn't broadcast 48 hours ahead of time with the headline of cool stuff to do? That's exactly how I felt last night as I heard the summary of the weekend's activities in Sacramento for Black History Month. The festivities were incredible. Although I missed the event, I did learn there's a Sojourner Museum. I look forward to going soon.
Thank you Stephanie Parreira-Zweier, Mary Blackburn, Esther Mosase, Tamekia Wilkins and our friends and colleagues in the Black and Allied Employees of ANR for the ANR Connected post. It's a great collection of activities to attend and resources to read. These collections are appreciated especially since everyone is fully engaged in ANR programs. The UC Black and Allied Employees strive to foster communication and create space for connection among past and present staff and academics, provide educational and professional development opportunities for Black staff and academics in pursuit of growth in their current role and advancement within UC ANR, and support and promote organizational Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion goals. Your contributions enrich our lives.
It's been a few weeks since the Sustainable Pest Management Roadmap was published. Jim Farrar, Margaret Lloyd and Houston Wilson did heavy lifting on this product. Karey Windbiel-Rojas was involved in the Urban subgroup. I look forward to the future dividends of their great work!
Elsewhere in the Division, Jairo Diaz (Desert REC Director) was boasting with pride when Stacey Amparano shared that the Farm Smart Program was selected as a recipient for the CA State FFA Distinguished Service Award! This award is reserved for those few who provide assistance to FFA which is of an outstanding nature, thus distinguishing the recipient from the vast list of others who provide routine assistance to the FFA. Very exciting!
At the opposite end of the state (literally) Laura Snell received the young range professional award in Boise at the Society for Range Management conference. Way to go Laura!
Last week was the World Ag Expo in Tulare (AKA Farm Show). The wind shook the portable seminar building on Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday were less windy and definitely colder. The snow in the mountains was reassuring. It was great to attend the Golden State Dairy Management presentations by our colleagues Tuesday and Wednesday. I also enjoyed attending a luncheon on Sustainable Agriculture in the United Kingdom. In addition to the great speakers, I was excited to have lunch with Cooperative Extension Specialist Safeeq Kahn, UC Merced. It was great to see him in person (out of his zoom box). He's chair of a Regenerative Agriculture Specialist position recruitment at UC Merced. I'm looking forward to seeing the search committee results!
The return trip was a bit less colorful than usual. I think the blooms stalled. That was probably a good thing. Bees would not like to be outside foraging when with the wind and cold.