Backyard Orchard News
Jeffrey Mitchell holds outreach soil health presentations to Tulare County fourth-graders!
In what might be the sixth or seventh year in a row, Jeff Mitchell, Cooperative Extension systems specialist at Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center,UC Davis Plant Science department, and Conservation Agricultural Systems Innovation program participated in the annual AgVentures! educational event for several Tulare County public schools fourth-grader classes on May 11, 2018 at the International Ag Center. This is an annual event that is put on by the Tulare County School District in conjunction with the Tulare County Cooperative Extension and the International Ag Center and it typically involves several hundred students from the local schools. It turns out to be the classic ‘field trip' for kids and seems to be something that brings excitement and hopefully good learning to large numbers of students. A short video of some of the action can be seen at the You Tube site https://youtu.be/R4LDy4Ru9ws.
UC Davis Bee Garden Open House on May 12
Did you celebrate National Public Gardens Day today (Friday, May 11)? Yes? It's always held the...
A male valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, nectaring on a California native, foothill penstomen, Penstemon heterophyllus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus, is a frequent visitor to the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. Note the spider lurking beneath the zinnia blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
California golden poppies and bulbine brighten the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre bee garden on Bee Biology Road, west of the central UC Davis campus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This is Miss Bee Haven, a mosaic-ceramic sculpture that anchors Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. It is the work of self-described "rock artist" Donna Billick of Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Kearney-based nematologist Andreas Westphal awarded tenure
UC Riverside nematologist Andreas Westphal hosted lunch for staff and academics at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center May 11 in appreciation for their support. In April, he was awarded tenure. Congratulations Andreas!
Kids and Bugs Go Well Together: Check Out the Dixon May Fair
Kids and bugs go well together. Take the entries in Today's Youth Building at the 143rd annual...
Dixon May Fair Youth Building superintendent Building superintendent Stephanie Hill (left) of Yuba City and assistant building superintendent Pat Connelly of Vacaville hang bumble bee pillow, the work of Solano County 4-H'ers. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Beekeeper Ryan Anenson, 16, of the Tremont 4-H Club, Dixon, took this blue-ribbon winner, close-up of a bee. Overlapping the photo are plant leaves. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Jake Vinum, 15, of Vacaville, won a blue ribbon for his wall hanging, titled "Horseshoe Spider," cleverly crafted with a horseshoe and "spider legs." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Khole Cahoon, 13, of Vacaville won a blue ribbon for her chocolate ganache cupcakes, decorated with bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Beekeeper Francis Agbayani, 12, of the Vaca Valley 4-H Club, Vacavile, is displaying his 4-H project, "Don't Bee Making Mistakes," a blue-ribbon winner. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Fun at the Fair with Entomologists and Insects
If fair time is fun time--and it is--just add insects to make it even more fun. Entomologists from...
Entomologist Jeff Smith, curator of the butterfly and moth specimens at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, enjoys showing insects. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Madagascar hissing cockroaches are "a huge hit with kids," says entomologist Jeff Smith of the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis entomology graduate student Charlotte Herbert will be tabling an activity at the Dixon May Fair on Saturday, May 12. She recently showed scorpions at the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day. Under a black light, scorpions fluoresce. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
What's more fun than an arthropod? Two arthopods! Pictured are a spider, a rose-haired tarantula--and an insect, a Madagascar hissing cockroach. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)