San Diego

Aaron Nelson, UCCE livestock advisor emeritus, passed away on Oct. 14, 2019, in Clovis. He was 85. Nelson grew up on a small farm in Texas until the age 7, when his family moved to the San Diego area. At age 11, his father gave him a newborn calf to raise, which sparked his interest in livestock.

The meeting over the long weekend in San Diego is rarely my favorite meeting, but I managed to leave with some reading. I need to become more of a reader if I am to keep up with it. A manuscript I hope to read talks about the changing role of higher education dealing with wicked problems.

When UC Davis agricultural entomologist Christian Nansen wanted to develop a free smart phone application to help strawberry growers predict spray coverage to combat pests, he knew just where to go. The UC Davis Computer Science Club. And, now the three-year collaborative project is a reality.

Strawberry growers now have a free smart phone application tool to predict spray coverage to combat such pests as two-spotted spider mites, lygus bugs and leafrollers, thanks to a three-year collaborative project involving UC Davis agricultural entomologist Christian Nansen and several UC Davis comp...

It may be Halloween week, but clearly, the real scare is the fire activity and the effect that the howling winds have on fire threats. It seems unfathomable to think about 43 counties under red flag warnings.

State Field Day was held at the University of California Davis in Davis, California the first weekend of June. It was a ton of fun and everyone should go at least once. There was so much to see and do there.

The trip to San Diego last week was good. I enjoyed seeing so many of our business personnel; about 10 total. And, I always like a chance to see the water. Friday I had fun playing hooky at Yosemite. Despite the month, there were a large number of visitors to the park.

It's commonly called a "passion butterfly," but we call it a Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillaea) or Gulf Frit. Or "spectacular.

4-H week ended on a high note. I received the photo, below, from Steven Worker.

Helping people attain financial security and healthy, active lives has been a career passion for Patti Wooten Swanson, UC Cooperative Extension nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor for San Diego County.