Safe, healthy and happy Thanksgiving
Master Gardener program doesn't lose ground
An article in the Redding Record Searchlight advises Master Gardeners to "Put away the pitchforks." A rumor that the program's training session at Shasta College would be dropped is false.
According to the story, horticulture instructor Leimone Waite called current and former Master Gardeners to arms (metaphorically) a few weeks ago saying the program's training class could be eliminated along with other college programs to deal with a budget shortfall. She urged supporters of the Master Gardener program to share their thoughts with college officials.
Shasta College President Gary Lewis said he received numerous letters from Master Gardeners, but told Record Searchlight writer Laura Christman the Master Gardener training class was never targeted for cuts.
"I was surprised I heard from people. It really wasn't in jeopardy," Lewis was quoted.
The Shasta College Master Gardener program is unique in California. Because the county UC Cooperative Extension program lacked a horticulture advisor, Shasta College took on Master Gardener administration and training in 2003.
"The program wouldn't exist in Shasta County without Shasta College," the story quoted Pam Geisel, UC ANR statewide Master Gardener academic coordinator.
Christman, a Master Gardener herself, wrote that Geisel considered it important to bring the Shasta program into the UCCE fold.
"If you speak with one voice as a group, you speak with a much louder voice," Geisel said.
Recently, the Shasta program became part of UC Cooperative Extension, although it still retains "Shasta College" in its name and the college continues to handle the training and oversight, according to the article.
The memorandum of understanding that was finalized in the fall means more structure and paperwork for the local group, but it also will allow for better access to UC experts and resources.
UCCE Master Gardener logo
Ventura County volunteer encourages residents to garden
A Ventura County UC Cooperative Extension master composter, Lorraine Rubin, wrote a guest column published in the Ventura County Star over the weekend about the increasing popularity of food gardening. She attributed growth in the age-old hobby to high food costs, job losses, hunger, concerns about food quality, climate change and dwindling energy supplies.
Rubin wrote that the acting county director in the Ventura office, Rose Hayden-Smith, is a nationally recognized leader in the effort to boost home gardening. Hayden-Smith, Rubin wrote in the article, "has been crisscrossing the nation giving speeches, granting interviews and blogging like crazy to push the message that our country needs to invest, once again, in local gardening."
The story reported that Hayden-Smith wrote a letter to the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture suggesting a victory garden conference be convened in Washington, D.C., this spring, using as a model the National War Garden Defense Conference held there in 1941, less than two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The conference, Hayden-Smith suggested, could outline how a national victory garden program could once again offer food security to Americans by supporting edible gardens in our schools, homes, workplaces and communities.
A World War II Victory Garden poster.
CDFA decides to try gypsy moth eradication in Ventura
The California Department of Food and Agriculture has decided to spray a natural pesticide commonly used on organic farms in the Ventura County community of Ojai to knock down a local infestation of gypsy moths, according to an article in the Ventura County Star.
The gypsy moth was deliberately introduced into the United States in 1868 by French scientist Leopold Trouvelot, who wanted to breed a disease-resistant, silk-spinning hybrid caterpillar. Some moths escaped from his Massachusetts lab and the insect became a notorious pest of hardwood trees in the eastern United States, according to a Wikipedia article on the moth.
Four gypsy moths were trapped in Ojai in June 2007; 15 months later, CDFA placed a five-acre area under quarantine. Among other trees, gypsy moths' presence in Ventura County threatens California native oaks. Star reporter Stephanie Hoops contacted UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Ben Faber for information about CDFA's planned eradication program.
Faber told the reporter that the pesticide to be used, bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki, is safe and a good way to stop the gypsy moth from defoliating oak trees.
“The thought of our hillsides without oaks is scary,” Faber was quoted. “I hope people would consider the ecological consequences if we let the gypsy moths get away.”
Gypsy moth larvae
Community garden rises from Angora's ashes
The devastating wind-driven Angora Fire of 2007, which destroyed 254 homes near Lake Tahoe, left behind fertile ground for the growth of community spirit. Evidence of that is a new community garden being developed on land where the home of Owen Evans stood since 1978, according to a story in the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza. The home was one of Angora's casualties, but before he died of congestive heart failure in December, Evans decided his lot should be turned into a community garden.
“His passion was the environment,” his daughter was quoted in the article. “I just think this is a really positive legacy for him, something positive the community can embrace.”
The garden will contain native plants, and include demonstrations of defensible space, and proper erosion-control measures known as Best Management Practices.
The article noted that UC Cooperative Extension is developing a set of voluntary landscaping guidelines for residents of the area burned by the Angora fire.
“The goal of this project is to develop a vision for a future landscape that integrates defensible space, water quality, wildlife, and aesthetic values,” the story quoted an article in an Angora community newsletter.
The recession contributes to farmworker glut
One thing farmers apparently will not have to worry about during the upcoming growing season is a farm labor shortage. Slowdowns in the construction and food industries are turning many immigrant workers back to agriculture, according to a Los Angeles Times article published yesterday.
Reporter Jerry Hirsch wrote about a dramatic turnaround in what farmers considered a serious farmworker shortage three years ago. However, UC Davis agricultural economist Phil Martin offered the reporter a different view. He questioned whether the "shortage" was actually the result of a reluctance by farmers to raise wages enough to persuade people to do farm work
"You can't talk about need or shortage without talking about wages," Martin was quoted.
Farmers and agribusiness interests say they can't afford to pay much more than the minimum wage because of international competition, the story said.
"So what happens is that people move on to higher-paying jobs. Farm labor is a job, not a career. When people have other options, they get out of farm work. Construction is a frequent first step up the job ladder," Hirsch quoted Martin.
When higher-paying jobs become scarce, many laborers are forced back to the land.