Posts Tagged: mission
ENT Seminar Features International Leader in Plant-Insect Interactions
Senior researcher Xoaquín Moreira of the Biological Mission of...
Special education students cultivate farm skills at South Coast REC
Partnership with Esperanza Education Center provides blueprint for other adult transition programs
For students at Esperanza Education Center, an adult transition program serving students with disabilities in south Orange County, there was something deeply satisfying about handpicking 2,000 pounds of avocados.
“There's a tangible, visual element where you're like, ‘Wow, I did that – I did it, I can see it, I can feel it in my bones and my muscles,'” said Ray Bueche, principal of the school in Mission Viejo, within the Saddleback Valley Unified School District. “There's a real sense of accomplishment that you're seeing in some of these students.”
Ranging in age from 18 to 22, the students are in an adult education program that helps advance their independent living skills and prepare them for meaningful work and careers. They are able to experience the thrill of the harvest – and a variety of other farming activities – through the school's innovative partnership with UC South Coast Research and Extension Center, a UC Agriculture and Natural Resources facility that supports researchers and delivers outreach and education programs.
Given UC ANR's emphasis on workforce development, Jason Suppes, a community education specialist at South Coast REC, contacted Bueche in 2019 about a potential collaboration. While Esperanza has many partnerships with retail stores and nonprofits that give students invaluable work experiences, none of them offer the farm environment that South Coast REC could provide.
“Part of developing [our students] is getting a wide range of opportunities in a variety of vocational areas,” Bueche explained. “Agriculture is one that's very hard for us to find.”
Program ‘wildly successful' from beginning
Unlike other job sites that bring the students in less frequently, South Coast REC committed to hosting the young people every week for three hours (COVID-19 measures permitting), with Suppes and colleague Tammy Majcherek leading them in planting, weeding, maintenance, harvesting and more.
“We can provide opportunities for students to learn skills that could help them potentially find employment in a garden center, in a nursery, at landscapers,” Suppes said. “The program was wildly successful out of the gate.”
Mike Seyler, an Esperanza teacher who accompanies the students to South Coast REC, has seen firsthand the positive impacts of the partnership. He said one student – who at first balked at the idea of being outside, getting dirty and performing physical labor – eventually grew to like the work and took great pride in pulling carrots from the ground and sharing them with his family.
“To physically actually ‘see' the work you did – they don't always get to do that,” Seyler said. “It was cool to see someone, who didn't necessarily like being outdoors, really enjoy it now.”
The change of pace – and place – was especially beneficial for one young woman at Esperanza. Bueche said the nature of the work and the setting helped the student grow socially, as she relished the teamwork and camaraderie needed to accomplish their goals on the farm.
“We really saw a different person come out through her experiences there – she felt more self-confident; she was more personable with people; she was talking more,” said Bueche, who added that she has leveraged the skills she gained into a paid work-based learning experience with a local retailer.
Students bring produce to school, community
All students benefit from Esperanza's partnership with South Coast REC, as surplus produce from the center's fields is donated to make healthy school lunches. In addition, students use REC-grown fruits and vegetables at their monthly pop-up restaurant, where they hone skills in preparing and serving a three-course meal.
Their peers, who harvested the produce, derive immense satisfaction from seeing the fruits of their labor go directly to the school.
“They're able to enjoy eating the stuff that they're working for,” Seyler said. “And then they see everyone else enjoying it, and I think that really translates well for these guys.”
The students also played a prominent role in an avocado sale last summer, for which they picked 2,000 pounds of produce, bagged the fruit in 10-pound bags and then distributed preorders to the public from a stand at South Coast REC. Proceeds from the event were used to purchase farm tools, shirts and other gear.
“It was an incredible success – everyone loved the avocados,” Bueche said. “The students loved it; the parents came out; community members supported it.”
Those successes illustrate the power of a strong partnership; the South Coast REC team, in fact, received the school's “Community Partner of the Year” Award for 2020-21, for persevering through the pandemic to deliver the beneficial programs for students.
Over the last two years, Suppes and Bueche – through a lot of creativity and some trial and error – have sketched a roadmap for growing productive relationships between similar organizations and adult transition programs. And after presenting those results to colleagues, other local school districts and nonprofits such as Goodwill and My Day Counts have contacted South Coast REC to provide similar experiences for community members.
/h3>/h3>/h2>Save the Haven to Save the Bees
The Haven is all about teaching, research, and outreach to save the bees. Our programs are...
Beetles Have an Eye Out for Figs
Help for the Home Gardener from the Contra Costa Master Gardener Help Desk
Client's Problem:
photo: treesofjoy.com
CCMG Help Desk's Response:
I'm responding to your telephone inquiry yesterday about a problem with your Mission Fig. I under stand that you have observed little black insects on the tree branches which are about the size of a flea but may be beetles. You also reported that something is infecting the figs. Some figs are getting black inside and may have some fungal growth.
It is likely that the small insects that you have observed are the cause of the problem with the rotting figs. The insects may be dried fruit and/or sap beetles. There are several closely related species of this insect. The adults are small brown or black beetles with or without lighter spots on the wings, depending on the species, They range in size from 0.1 to 0.2 inch long and have clubbed antennae. The wings do not cover the last two to three abdominal segments. The larvae are white and 0.1 to 0.2 inch long when mature. Here are photos showing two different species of such beetles:
photo: UC IPM
photo: UC IPM
As figs mature, the fruit often develops an entry point at the eye of the fig which the beetles use to gain entry into the soft fruit tissue. They can also enter the fruit at other openings in the fruit caused by mechanical injury or by other insects. After they enter the fruit, the beetles transmit spoilage organisms that cause the fruit to sour and ferment. The rotting figs in tum can attract other pests such as vinegar files and navel orange worms. The beetle larvae feed inside the fruit until they are mature enough to emerge and drop to the ground where they pupate and emerge as adult beetles.
To manage an infestation of the beetles the University of California recommends that you promptly remove and destroy all infected fruit. You may want to dispose of the rotting fruit in a plastic bag in your garbage to stop reproduction and spread of the beetles. You should remove any infected fruit from the tree and also promptly and thoroughly remove any fruit that drops to the ground.
UC also recommends trapping the beetles in a container with an inverted cone top. You can find a link to a drawing of such a container at this UC Davis website: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/GARDEN/FRUIT/PESTS/driedfrtbeetle.html. You bait the trap with fermenting figs and water. You could also add some bakers yeast to speed up the fermentation process in the trap. If you decide to try traps, check them every couple of days and remove trapped beetles. Also replenish the water if needed.
As new figs start developing on your tree, check them carefully to try to detect and remove any that may have been invaded by the beetles. You may want to try harvesting on the early side of ripeness to reduce the chances that the beetles will have gained entry into the fruit.
UC also reports that fig varieties with small eyes (like a Mission fig) are less likely to be infected by the beetles than fig varieties with large eyes. The fact that your Mission fig appears to have been attacked by the beetles demonstrates that even they are not immune to attack.
As a final caution, the beetles can also infect other fruit such as stone fruits (e.g., peaches, plums, cherries, etc.) and citrus. So if you have such trees, keep an eye out for a problem. Early removal of any infected fruit and thorough and quick clean-up of fruit that drops to the ground would also help manage the problem in other fruit trees.
Hope this information is helpful. You are welcome to contact us again if you have further questions.
Contra Costa Master Gardeners' Help Desk
Editor's Note: The Contra Costa Master Gardener Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523.
We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, and we are on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/
New County Director Shares his Vision for Local Agriculture
Dr. Smith earned his B.S. in genetics at UC Davis while performing biochemical research on herbicide tolerance in glyphosate-resistant tomato cells, and subsequently received an M.S. in Biology for his work on Citrus Tristeza Virus at Long Beach State University. At the University of Nebraska, his research encompassed biochemical characterization of regulatory proteins ("kinases/phosphatases") involved in carbon-fixation, and wound-induced systemic signaling and gene expression in plants, culminating in a Ph.D. in biological sciences.
After completing his doctorate, he did postdoctoral research in sequence-structure computational analyses of protein kinases ("molecular switches"), and development of database resources for protein kinase information, at the San Diego Supercomputer Center, University of California San Diego. He spent the next 14 years serving as the executive director for the National Biomedical Computation Resource, and the Center for Theoretical Biological Physics at UCSD. Prior to joining UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR), Dr. Smith served as the associate vice provost for research at Rice University.
Ventura County possesses a moderate climate and prime agricultural land that allows it to be one of the more versatile growing environments in the state. The county is not only the number one producer of strawberries and has significant acreage in citrus, avocado and vegetable crops, but also provides a viable testing ground for specialty crops that can serve profitable niche markets. Through collaboration Dr. Smith envisions a stronger commitment to the success and promotion of county agriculture for now and future generations.
The Spring 2014 issue of "Central Coast Farm & Ranch" magazine has an article that focuses on Chris Smith and his aspirations for UCCE Ventura and the Hansen Agricultural Center. The article is entitled "On the Ground" and is published by the Farm Bureau of Ventura County. If you are interested in subscribing to "Central Coast Farm & Ranch" please contact them at (805) 289-0155 or info@farmbureauvc.com.
Dr. Smith encourages an active and responsive dialogue with the public and the county's agricultural community. He can be reached at 805-662-6943.