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Master Gardener Graduation
On Friday, May 11, The Master Gardener Volunteer Program of Solano County graduated its’ 2012 class of Master Gardeners. The setting was apropos, the beautiful gardens at the Buck Mansion. The atmosphere was filled with an air of both relief and excitement as graduation marks the completion of their 5-month training program combined with their eagerness to blossom into the beginning of their career as Master Gardeners. These newly Certified Master Gardeners are geared to head out into their respective communities and extend horticultural information based on research-based information, verified by UC experts. Every year, I look forward to this day and make every effort to clear my schedule to attend; however, my intentions are a bit selfish. To be truthful, my favorite part of the day is catching up with my classmates from 2002 as well as fellow gardeners I have volunteered with over the years. I really can’t say enough about this wonderful group of people and hearing about how they have branched out and developed their expertise in gardening. None of this would be possible without our Program Director who provides the stable base from where the program grows, Jennifer Baumbach. She’s the roots and the trunk that holds everything together. If you find yourself thinking about becoming a Master Gardener, visit the Master Gardener booth at your local Farmer’s Market. Talk to us; find out what’s involved…this may be the group for you!
Diverse Terrariums
Ah terrariums! How I love this tiny little worlds. In my experience, which is somewhat limited, the easiest ones are the dry cactus types. So little water involved. Just add some rocks, sand, and you have an itty bitty desert in that cognac snifter you never use. Stick with shade succulents like gasterias and haworthias. Don't put them too close to a window as the glass from the terrarium will magnify the suns rays and cook them, unless you're going for the desert apocalypse look.
Another cutie is the moss habitat. These kind remind me of my sister-in-law's back yard in Washington state. Very wet, just a clearing in a forest with some fallen logs. Mosses and mushrooms and tiny flowers everywhere. Very Jurassic. So, I got brave, and made one. Mine contains babies tears, Irish moss, scotch moss, an African violet, which is normally also an outside ground cover for shade, some tilandsias, and some dinosaurs figurines for effect. Also a maiden hair fern, that is ailing, but in my defense, it's not me, it's my kitten, Vespa. She's been getting in there and piddling on it. That can't be good.
Terrarium (photo by Georgia Luiz)
Tulare County supervisors support commercial pack animals in national parks
The Tulare County Board of Supervisors voted to support a bill introduced by Congressman Devin Nunes, R-Tulare, allowing businesses that rent pack mules and horses to operate in Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks while a new wilderness plan is implemented, according to the Visalia Times-Delta.
In 2009 a High Sierra Hikers Association sued the National Park Service for failing to conduct an adequate environmental impact analysis of its wilderness plan. As a result of the suit, a judge ruled that the service no longer has the authority to issue permits to the companies that rent pack animals.
Before the supervisors' vote, Jim Sullins, director of UC Cooperation Extension in Tulare and Kings counties, said years of research done by UC Davis and UC Cooperative Extension wasn't included in the U.S. Park Service's response to the lawsuit.
National Park Service photo.
Nature's Poetry
If you head over to the 137th annual Dixon May Fair, the state's oldest continuous fair, you'll see a flurry of butterflies. The fair, located...
This butterfly painting, in the Fine Arts and Photography Building is the work of retired teacher Ethel Calvello of Dixon. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Butterfly necklace by Marcella Segard of Fairfield is in the Interior Living Showcase Building. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This owl butterfly is from the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Cooperative Extension advisor helped Solvang family start a new business
The article said Leonard and Nancy Morrell were unsure what to do with their 2.5-acre farm in Solvang after their kids were raised and they retired from their jobs. Leonard read a research paper by Gaskell that suggested the area provided excellent conditions to grow blackberries and raspberries.
“It just seemed like something that I’d like to do,” Leonard said of his initial reaction. “(Gaskell) came down from Santa Maria and he helped me set it up and everything. That was kind of the beginning.”
Now 12 years later, the Morrells have turned their modest berry farm into a family business, selling fresh berries and berry jam at the Solvang farmers market.
