Posts Tagged: Initiative B Abundant Food

Use Your Cut Flowers to Beautify Your Home

SAVE THE DATE - June 22, 2013.  It's summer and a great time to decorate your home with cut floral arrangements.  UC Ventura County Cooperative Extension's Master Gardeners can help with their upcoming seasonal Home-Garden workshop, "Planning & Growing a Cut Flower Garden, Creating Beautiful Floral Arrangements."

Here you will learn how to have flowers available all year long to arrange in your home.  The Master Gardeners will teach you the principles of flower gardening and techniques to create lovely floral arrangements. 

Master Gardener workshops are open to the public and can fill up quickly.

Date:  Saturday, June 22, 2013
Time:  8:15 am - 12:00 noon
Location:
     Hansen Agricultural Center
     14292 W. Telegraph Rd.
     Santa Paula, CA
Cost:  $30.00 (includes continental breakfast and snacks)

Click to register and learn more about the workshop.

Rose Hayden-Smith Named Bradford-Rominger Award Winner

Rose Hayden-Smith, UC Ventura County Cooperative Extension's youth development advisor and leader for UC Agriculture and Natural Resources strategic initiative in sustainable food systems, has been awarded the Bradford-Rominger award for 2013. 

The annual award is given to a recipient whose dedication to the field of agricultural sustainability best reflects the legacy of Charlie Rominger and Eric Bradford, academics known for their passionate comittment to agriculture.  Rose has consistently demostrated such passion and enthusiasm for her work in this area and we congratulate Rose on another well-deserved honor.

To read the UC ANR blog post about Rose's contribution and learn more about the award, please click here.

4-H Spring Farm Field Trips

It’s springtime, the sun is warm and the UC Hansen Agricultural Research and Extension Center (UC HAREC) is a busy place. Garden volunteers and farm staff have worked countless hours preparing the farm over the winter. The fields and gardens are flourishing and the sounds of children fill the air. Yellow school buses are a welcome sight at the Center. Over 1700 Ventura County youth grades K-3^rd will participate in the 4-H Farm Field Trip and Classroom Outreach Program that kicks off in March and runs through the end of May.

Specially trained and dedicated volunteers work alongside staff to deliver fun and hands-on agricultural based lessons. For many Kindergarteners, this is their first time on a farm. Getting a glimpse of where food comes from, planting seeds and learning what makes them grow are unforgettable experiences. Older students delve deeper into plant growth and development, discover the important role pollinators play in our food system, and learn about the agricultural county where we live.

Picking and sampling farm fresh vegetables such as beets, carrots, sugar snap peas, and lettuce are favorite activities with all ages and a great way to introduce MyPlate, the newest USDA guide to healthy eating choices, and encourage daily physical activity. What can be better than getting your hands dirty, smelling the rich Santa Paula soil, and eating vegetables you helped harvest? Children aren’t the only visitors. Over 300 parents and teachers will visit, learn, and munch alongside youth.

The cost of buses makes a trip to the farm prohibitive for many schools. When visiting the farm is not an option, lessons delivered in the classroom bring the farm to life. The 4-H Classroom Outreach Program is an opportunity to learn about agriculture without leaving the school grounds.

Yes, it’s a busy and exciting time. Happy spring!

Victory Garden Exhibit at VC Agricultural Museum

Ventura County's Agricultural Museum in Santa Paula is featuring a special exhibit devoted to World War I and II home gardens entitled "When Gardening Was Patriotic."  The exhibit includes war era posters and other articles relevant to this period in history. 

Maintaining a strong food supply was an integral part of homefront support efforts where victory garden campaigns were not only important in creating food for home use and supplying to troops, but also as a patriotic booster for those at home who wanted to do their part.

Rose Hayden-Smith, UC Ventura County Cooperative Extension's community and youth development advisor, spoke at the exhibit on January 26 on "Digging for Victory: How America's Gardeners Helped the War Effort."  Rose is a historian with an active and passionate interest in victory gardens, their place in history and relevance to maintaining a healthy and abundant food supply for the present and the future.   You can learn more about this at her Victory Grower website.

Check out this historic exhibit so relevant to our county which has some of the most versatile agricultural land in the state. 

Dates of exhibit:  Now through March 27, 2013
Location:  
   Museum of Ventura County
   926 Railroad Ave.
   Santa Paula, CA 93060
   805-525-3100
Please see the museum website for hours and admission costs.

Free Edible Landscaping Workshops

Edible plants can enhance your garden and your dinner table.  Learn how to add healthy, edible plants to your existing home landscaping at a "Edible Landscaping" workshop presented by our UC Ventura County Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners.

Ventura Master Gardeners are offering this series of workshops at locations throughout the county and are available to the public at no cost.

For a flyer with dates and locations, click here.

To register, click here.

Read more