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Insect-Inspired Fashions! Compliments of the UC Davis EGSA
Talk about insect-inspired fashions! Insects are in. They're not only everywhere in nature (well,...
EGSA members and their award-winning t-shirts: president Brendon Boudinot; EGSA t-shirt coordinator Jill Oberski; and Corwin Parker. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
"The Beetles" t-shirt is EGSA's all-time best seller. Beneath the images of the beetles are their family names: Phengogidae, Curculionidae, Cerambycidae and Scarabaeidae. Think glowworm, snout, long-horned, and scarab beetles.
Some of the EGSA t-shirt designs.
One of the favorite bee t-shirts was designed by Danny Klittich, who holds a doctorate in entomology from UC Davis and now works as a California central coast agronomist.
EGSA members and their award-winning t-shirts: president Brendon Boudinot; EGSA t-shirt coordinator Jill Oberski; and Corwin Parker. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
"The Beetles" t-shirt is EGSA's all-time best seller. Beneath the images of the beetles are their family names: Phengogidae, Curculionidae, Cerambycidae and Scarabaeidae. Think glowworm, snout, long-horned, and scarab beetles.
A Surprise Weed
This past spring a San Benito County rancher came to my office with a weed from her property. She...
Figure 3: Russian Knapweed Map from CalFlora
Figure 1. Russian Knapweed Plant
Figure 2: Russian Knapweed Flowers
A Case of Mistaken Identity
They can't drain your bank account. They can't open up new credit cards. They can't get medical...
Meet the drone fly (Eristalis tenax), often mistaken for a honey bee. Note the one set of wings, large eyes, stubby antennae and a distinguishing "H" on its abdomen. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Drone fly nectaring on Mexican sunflower, Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee sipping nectar from a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). (Photo by kathy Keatley Garvey)
Meet the drone fly (Eristalis tenax), often mistaken for a honey bee. Note the one set of wings, large eyes, stubby antennae and a distinguishing "H" on its abdomen. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Drone fly nectaring on Mexican sunflower, Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee sipping nectar from a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). (Photo by kathy Keatley Garvey)
Prop 12 builds on food animal welfare initiative passed 10 years ago
>Proposition 12, a measure on California's Nov. 6 ballot, builds on the successful ballot measure Prop. 2, which 10 years ago required veal calves, breeding pigs and egg-laying hens to be kept on farms that allowed them to turn around freely, lie down, stand up and extend their limbs, reported Paul Rogers in the Mercury News.
However, CDFA issued guidelines that said chickens could still be kept in cages and be in compliance with the law. That prompted sponsors - including the Humane Society, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and other groups - to propose Prop 12, which will tighten the law. If passed by a simple majority, the new proposition would require 43 square feet of space for each calf raised for veal by 2020, 24 square feet for each breeding pig by 2022 and one square foot per hen by 2020, with all egg-laying hens required to be cage-free by 2022 — in other words, allowed to roam around a barn or large coop. Farmers from other states would also have to comply with these dimensions to sell their products in California.
Since Prop 2 went into effect, egg prices increased by 9 percent. California is also producing fewer eggs. In 2007, 5.3 billion eggs were laid by California chickens, with a value of $346 million. By 2015, California chickens laid 3.5 billion eggs with a value of $210 million.
Some of the decline would have happened anyway, said economist Daniel Sumner, director of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources' Agricultural Issue Center.
“The egg industry has been declining for decades in California,” Sumner said. “Raising eggs is about converting corn and soybeans to eggs. It's expensive to haul corn and soybeans around. And we don't grow corn and soybeans in California.”
But Sumner predicted if Prop 12 passes, it will raise the price of some types of eggs, perhaps by as much as 50 percent, and the price of veal and pork by about 20 percent.
Anne Schellman appointed coordinator of UC Master Gardeners in Stanislaus County
>Anne Schellman has been appointed coordinator of the new UC Master Gardener program in Stanislaus County, reported John Holland in the Modesto Bee.
A Modesto native, Schellman learned about plants while working at Scenic Nursery when she was a student Modesto Junior College. She earned a bachelor's degree in horticultural science at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and a master's degree in community development at UC Davis.
Schellman is not new to UC ANR or to UC Cooperative Extension in Stanislaus County. She worked as a UCCE horticulture program representative and program manager for UCCE nutrition, family and consumer sciences. Most recently, Schellman was an urban integrated pest management educator, working at the UC ANR statewide offices in Davis.
Schellman will be shepherding the first Master Gardener program in Stanislaus County. The first cohort of volunteers will be trained from January to June 2019.
“It's a great way to give back to the community,” Schellman said. “Master Gardeners learn from university experts and then teach the community about important topics like using less water and reducing green waste in the landscape. They also help promote a healthier community by showing people how to plant and grow fruits and vegetables.”
Anne Schellman
