Santa Cruz

As most readers of this blog know, the loss of the pre-plant soil fumigant methyl bromide several years ago presents a serious challenge to business as usual in the California strawberry industry.

Sudden Oak Death (SOD), a serious exotic tree disease, threatens the survival of tanoak and several oak species in California. Currently, SOD infects trees in 14 coastal California counties, from Monterey to Humboldt.

On June 6, 2019 UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) and burn boss Phil Dye led a 2.7-acre prescribed burn on a ranch in Bitterwater.

Strategies for Increasing Ranch Income (AgNetWest) Brian German, Oct. 31 There are multiple approaches that producers can take to help increase ranch income that ranges from improving traditional avenues of revenue to taking a more unconventional approach to the diversification of income.

As part of the addition of the Santa Cruz County Behavioral Health facility next to our Cooperative Extension office in Watsonville, a big mural was added to the exterior wall of our auditorium. As you can see, this mural painted by local artist Bruce Harman, is really nice.

John Bailey, director of the University of California's Hopland Research and Extension Center, has been appointed to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Advisory Committee on Beginning Farmers and Ranchers by USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue. Bailey's two-year term expires on Sept. 17, 2021.

A monarch butterfly fluttered into our pollinator garden in Vacaville yesterday and sipped nectar from a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) as a bird looked on. Well, sort of looked on. The bird was decorative art. The monarch was real. Now if that bird had been real, the monarch may have been a meal.

Kron named area IPM advisor for North Coast Cindy Kron has joined UC Cooperative Extension as areawide IPM advisor for Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and Lake counties.

Nine local nonprofits selected for training program (Imperial Valley Press) Sept. 12 The Imperial County Local Health Authority Commission Wednesday identified nine local nonprofit organizations that have been selected to participate in capacity building training over the next several months.

One of the first gardening books I ever purchased was Sunset magazine's book How to Grow Herbs, published in the early 1970's. Though it had great information on cultivation and harvesting, what really drew me in was the use of herbs in landscaping.