UC Blogs
The Hostest with the Mostest
You're sitting in your back yard or at a park and a mosquito bites you. You're the host whether you like it or not. You just hope that this isn't an...
Tara Thiemann is researching bloodfeeding patterns of Culex mosquitoes. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Tara Thiemann working in the lab. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UCCE launches Northern California obesity study, 'Naturalist' program
UC Cooperative Extension nutrition researchers are in the process of selecting five schools each from Shasta and Butte counties to pilot a nutrition and extension program that university researchers will study to learn how to motivate kids to choose healthy habits, the Redding Record Searchlight reported.
The project is funded with a $500,000 grant from UC Agriculture and Natural Resources.
"We are going to support the school(s) to develop a stronger wellness program that rewards healthy eating and physical activity," said Concepción Mendoza, UCCE advisor in Shasta County, nutrition, family and consumer sciences.
UC Cooperative Extension specialist Patricia Crawford, nutrition, told reporter Joe Szydiowski that people's palettes depend on four criteria: easy to get, cheap, tastes good, and heavily advertised.
Those combine to provide a strong push for people to eat unhealthy food.
"We have to go against the forces to reach out and get foods that will make us healthy," she said. One of the best ways to do that, Crawford said, is by providing students with easy access to cold, clean water.
The program could be extended to the state and national level if it's successful after the two years of study.
UCCE offers 'California Naturalist' program in Truckee
Aspiring naturalists may enroll in a 40-hour course this summer at UC Berkeley's Sagehen Creek Field Station near Truckee to receive classroom and field training in science, problem-solving, communication and community service, according to the Sierra Sun.
The 'California Naturalist' course fee of $350 includes course instruction, a PDF textbook, graduation certificate, website support and registration as a UC "California Naturalist."
An Uncommon Bee
Sometimes you get lucky.While watching floral visitors foraging last week in our rock purslane (Calandrinia grandiflora), we noticed a tiny black...
Female leafcutting bee, Megachile gemula, on rock purslane. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Female leafcutting bee, Megachile gemula, exiting rock purslane. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UCCE supports Tahoe fire awareness week and Oroville nutrition decathlon
As part of Tahoe Fire Awareness Week, May 26 to June 3, Tahoe Basin fire agencies and partners, including Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and the University of California and Nevada Cooperative Extensions, are sponsoring a series of free webinars to help individuals and communities learn how to become more fire adaptive, reported the Record-Courier. Each webinar will be held from noon to 1 p.m. and will be recorded and archived for later viewing.
“With 2012 shaping up to be a high risk year for wildfires, the more people can prepare to survive the threat the better we all will be,” said Susan Kocher, University of California Cooperative Extension advisor, natural resources.
Kocher speaks in session three of the seminar series on May 30 about defensible space landscaping. The session also includes a talk by Wendy West, UC Cooperative Extension program representative, natural resources, titled "Learning how to garden at Lake Tahoe."
See the UCCE Lake Tahoe Basin Wildfire Awareness Week website for more details and links to the webinars.
Nutrition Decathlon
UC Cooperative Extension in Butte County offers local schools a "Nutrition Decathlon," a full-day nutrition and physical activity program, reported the Oroville Mercury-Register.
UCCE is beginning its Nutrition Decathlon season, hosting activities at schools that are making changes on their campuses, said Jona Pressman, UCCE program manager, nutrition.
"To participate, they need to be making significant changes with physical activity and nutrition," Pressman said.
At Helen Wilcox School last Friday, students ran, jumped, balanced on beams, tossed balls into nets, hopped in sacks, ducked through hoops, balanced bean bags on their heads, crawled through tubes, did pushups and lifted slight weights, reported Barbara Arrigoni, Mercury-Register staff writer.
Katydid, Katy Didn't
My late father, who called me "Katydid," loved poetry.Decades after he passed, a cousin gave me a set of his books from his childhood home. One was...
Katydid on salvia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)