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UC advisor featured on 'The Nosh' food blog

Food Jobs, a regular feature on the KCET food blog 'The Nosh,' covers Southern California men and women who work in the food industry, but not in the kitchen. For a recent post, writer Christianna Reinhardt found UC Cooperative Extension nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor for Los Angeles County Brenda Roche.

A registered dietitian with a master of science degree in food policy and applied nutrition from Tufts University, Roche interned with UNICEF in India during college. She evaluated mother and children nutrition programs in rural villages in a hands-on, self-designed project. But first, she spent time learning about the communities the project would serve.

"You can't just descend upon a community with a program. You have to understand the community and talk to people to have any effect," Roche said.

The blog post said Roche used the same principle when she took her current position in Los Angeles.

Brenda Roche

One Last Time

The bees have it,The Beez Kneez, that is.The Beez Kneez, a Sacramento-based band led by Norm Gary, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis,...

Norm Gary is both a professional bee wrangler and a musician. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Norm Gary is both a professional bee wrangler and a musician. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Beez Kneez. That's Norm Gary (front row at left).

Beez Kneez. That's Norm Gary (front row at left).

My Handkerchief Garden

My collage pal Martha grew up in England.  She has a beautiful accent and a keen knowledge of just about everything.  When I eventually purchased a townhouse with a very small backyard, I described it to Martha.  I told her that my backyard was the size of a postage stamp.  Her response was, “Oh, you have a handkerchief garden!”

I always loved her English description my tiny, suburban California, postage stamp size, backyard.  The only problem with her description was that my backyard was totally barren. My Handkerchief Garden consisted of concrete, a volunteer Heavenly Bamboo bush (Berberidaceae), dirt and a pile of river rocks next to the garage. I was a rather pathetic Master Gardener, without an actual garden.  I also didn’t have a lot of extra money to buy an instant landscape. So, I cleared the rocks, fixed the irrigation, and patiently filled the spots with things I got from other gardeners like bearded iris rhizomes (Iridaceae), spider plants (Chlorophytum), and two yellow tea roses (Rosacea Grandifloras) someone who no longer wanted in their garden. I even managed to purchase a few planting pots at garage sales, and one or two six-packs of flowers at the grocery store for color. Occasionally, I’d treat myself to a plant like a hybrid camellia (Theaceae C. Saluenensis) or  a rhododendron (Ericaceae R. mucronulatum).  I found the perfect planting table made from recycled fence boards, and a white Adirondack chair with matching footrest on clearance at Raleys. Eventually the once barren, dusty courtyard became a garden.

Over the years, Martha’s description of my yard helped to inspire my vision of what could be possible. And without realizing it, Martha had given me hope. I could see in my mind, the possibility that my tiny, barren backyard could actually become a brilliantly British inspired Handkerchief Garden!

More women pursuing careers in winemaking

When winemaker Merry Edwards was a student at UC Davis in the 1970s, there were no women professors, she said, according to a Reuters feature about her career. After graduation, Edwards faced gender discrimination when looking for her first job.

But times have changed, Reuters reported. David Block, the head of the university's viticulture and enology department, said about 60 percent of their graduate students this year are women.

Edwards now has her own winery in Sonoma County's Russian River Valley and her own clone.

"Its formal name is UCD clone 37, but everyone around here calls it Merry's clone. And right now we're surrounded by it," she said, pointing to the acres of vineyards just outside the winery window.

'A Strange Little Bug'

Picture this. Staff at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine's Center for Equine Health encountered "a strange little bug" that they'd never...

Equine Control Officer Laurie Christison of the Center for Equine Health captured this cell-phone image of a female velvet ant.

Equine Control Officer Laurie Christison of the Center for Equine Health captured this cell-phone image of a female velvet ant.

View from above: The female velvet ant by Laurie Christison, UC Davis equine control officer.

View from above: The female velvet ant by Laurie Christison, UC Davis equine control officer.

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