Test PB Collection: FTE

You've heard of late bloomers. How about early bloomers? A trip to the Benica (Calif.) State Recreational Park on Sunday yielded quite a surprise: a solo blossom on a bare almond tree. Almonds don't usually start blooming until around Valentine's Day. Almonds are big business in California.

Introduction: According to the most recent statistics, the United States (US) was the world's sixth largest producer of melons, with a significant proportion (>50%) of the country's production occurring in California.

It's not just the taste of honey. It's the taste of honey AND mead--coupled with a gourmet dinner on the UC Davis campus. The UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center is sponsoring the Mid-Winter Beekeepers Feast: A Taste of Mead and Honey on Saturday, Feb. 8 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Winter Fruit Tree workshop Rose Pruning workshop...

Why become a beekeeper? Why keep bees? Beekeeper Brian Fishback of Wilton is quick to answer that. Bees, he says, teach us core family values. Bees have to take care of each other and work together for the success of the colony, just as people do for the success of their families.

A few weeks ago, a new herbicide from FMC Corporation was registered for use in some California orchard and vineyard crops.

Save the date! Richvale: Monday, Jan. 27, 8:00 am, Evangelical Church, 5219 Church St., Richvale Glenn: Monday, Jan. 27, 1:00 pm, Glenn Pheasant Hall, 1522 Highway 45, south of Glenn Colusa: Friday, Jan. 31, 8:00 am, CIP Conference Room, 100 Sunrise Blvd., Colusa Yuba City: Friday, Jan.

Pansies aren't bee plants. But don't tell that to the bees. True, bees are partial to the lavenders, the mints, the salvias, thyme, basil, borage, oregano, sunflowers and the like, but it's winter and their food sources are scarce.

Goodbye, 2013. Hello, 2014. If you're a beginning driver--or you remember being a beginning driver--your instructor may have admonished: "Look where you're going; not where you've been." But sometimes, especially at the end of a year, it's good to know where you've been.

Arthur Shapiro is willing to trade a butterfly for a beer. And its all in the name of science.