Quarterly News & Events March 2023
San Mateo and San Francisco Counties
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Spring is in the air...
and with the incredible rain, warming weather, and longer days (hurray!) one can expect plenty of tender new plant growth, an abundance of flowers, some pesky weeds, and all the associated critters which are sometimes not so beneficial to your home and landscape. Fear not... UC ANR's Integrated Pest Management (IPM) easy to access online tools can help you identify and manage many of these issues. Check out the following useful sites!
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Human-Wildlife Interactions Advisor, Dr. Carolyn Whitesell, is thrilled to announce the launch of the Bay Area Carnivore-Livestock Interactions Project (BACLIP for short). This project is the result of a collaboration between her research program, Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (who generously provided the project funding), Panthera (an NGO focused on conservation of wild felids), Colorado State University, UC Santa Cruz Puma Project, and others. Through it, we will be testing nonlethal deterrents for protecting livestock from mountain lions and coyotes on rangeland in San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz Counties. Read More...
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Winter Craft Fair - Dec. 2022 |
4-H Presentation Day
Presentation Day is a fun opportunity for 4-H members to showcase their knowledge in a subject of their choosing. 4-H'ers prepare a presentation that is judged on subject knowledge, presentation, organization, voice, manner and appearance, clarity, and the ability to answer questions. More than twenty youth participated in this year’s Presentation Day, held at the College of San Mateo in February. Presenters talked about subjects ranging from making waffles to sewing ballet shoes and caring for special needs chickens!
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4-H Winter Craft Fair
San Mateo County 4-Hers came together in December for the first ever Winter Craft Fair, selling handmade goods by 4-Hers as a fundraiser for their clubs. Youth made ornaments, crafts, soaps, jewelry, baked goods, artwork and much more. Visitors to the Fair were also able to participate in a wreath making workshop, explore a Fairy House and learn to wrap gifts.
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Presentation Day Participants - Feb. 2023 |
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Bulk Milk Comes to RWC School District!
UCCE is supporting an exciting pilot project in Redwood City: the rollout of a bulk milk dispenser! The dispenser premiered on January 27th at McKinley Institute of Technology / North Star Academy. UCCE is supporting the rollout and evaluating its impact on milk consumption and waste. School meals community educator Angelina Gutierrez provided on-site support to school food service staff and showed students how to use the new milk dispenser. The dispenser was immediately a huge hit: one side of the milk dispenser completely ran out due to popularity among the students on its first two days in service. In the fall, our nutrition team collected data to measure the amount of milk waste and solid waste that came from using milk cartons in the school cafeteria. In the coming weeks, we’ll be back for follow up data collection to see the effect the bulk milk dispenser has on milk consumption and solid waste.
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Spring Garden Market Preparation |
The event is the culmination of months of careful research and testing of soil blends, fertilizers, seeding and potting techniques for all plants offered for sale to the public.
The Educational Fair which was introduced last year proved to be a huge success with “standing room only” crowds attending the day’s line up of expert presentations. This year, the program will be expanded to include more presentations and information tables.
Spring Garden Market flyers have been created in three languages- English, Spanish and Chinese- to promote the event and are being posted in strategic locations throughout San Francisco and San Mateo Counties.
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MGs & seedling preparation in the greenhouses.
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MFP Virtual Workshops Are Back!
The Master Food Preservers of San Mateo/San Francisco County are back at the library! Our new 2023 season of on-line workshops in collaboration with the San Mateo County Library System began February 16th. MFP Hima Sunkara guided over 140 attendees in the basics of fresh sausage making via a 1 hour zoom workshop. It was a mouthwatering and informative class!
Check out our Upcoming Events page for future workshops and lots of food safety and food preservation resources.
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Photo Credit: Hima Sunkara |
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For those who were not aware, Elkus Ranch suffered serious storm damage over New Year's weekend. Purisima Creek's flooding waters washed away our access bridge and water pumping station. The road to recovery has been slow (to say the least) due in part to insurance and UC contractual issues. Sadly, Elkus remains closed to the public with limited access via a gas powered man-lift which can carry 2 persons at a time, moving at a snails pace. Staff are on-site daily to care for the animals - who truly miss having visitors - and regular chores, including hand pumping water into a 500 gal. tank which is then transported up to our water treatment system for use. Lots of challenges but we look forward to the project's completion and resuming activities. We have every intention to host both Sheep to Shawl and Summer Camp and hope to see you then if not before! Thank you for your patience and support. |
"Hey, where are all the kids?" (not the goat kind ;-) |
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View from Elkus across the creek to man-lift. |
Staff crossing the creek in the man-lift machine. |
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San Francisco Public Library, Mission Bay Branch
Half Moon Bay Library
East Palo Alto Library
San Mateo Public Library, Oak Room
via Zoom
via Zoom
Belmont Library, Taube Room
Portola Valley Library
San Carlos Library
Atherton Library
San Mateo Arboretum in Central Pork
San Mateo Arboretum Society
San Francisco Public Library, Mission Bay Branch
San Francisco Public Library, Richmond Branch
via zoom
Woodside Library
via zoom
via zoom
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Located on-site at UC Elkus Ranch
1500 Purisima Creek Road
Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
650-726-9059
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Master Gardener Helpline:
Open for in-person, walk-in visits per below. See our website for more details or submit any questions via the following:
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Monday: 10am-1pm | HMB
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Tuesday: 10:30am-1:30pm | SF
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Thursday: 1pm-4pm | RWC
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ANR NONDISCRIMINATION AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION POLICY STATEMENT FOR UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
It is the policy of the University of California (UC) and the UC Division of Agriculture & Natural Resources not to engage in discrimination against or harassment of any person in any of its programs or activities (Complete nondiscrimination policy statement can be found at http://ucanr.edu/sites/anrstaff/files/215244.pdf )
Inquiries regarding ANR’s nondiscrimination policies may be directed to UCANR, Affirmative Action Compliance & Title IX Officer, University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources, 2801 Second Street, Davis, CA 95618,(530) 750-1397.
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