Monthly Archives: October 2013

The next segment in the Growing California video series, a partnership with California Grown, is “Melon Masters.”

By Edward Ortiz, Sacramento Bee The effects of cattle theft did not fully dawn on rancher Candace Owen until she got a call in 2010 from a fellow rancher. It was a heads-up alerting her that some of her cows were missing their calves. The clue that something was amiss was each cow was “tight bagged,” the term ranchers use …

Earlier this week I had the honor and pleasure to help celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Center for Land-Based Learning, a non-profit organization in Winters started by California State Board of Food and Agriculture President Craig McNamara and his wife, Julie, to help connect young people with nature and agriculture. In the last two decades, the Center has become …

This is Food Day, which is described by organizers as a nationwide celebration and movement for healthy, affordable, and sustainable food. That’s something we can all get behind, and I’d like to talk a little about how it helps position us for the future. We are part of a system that will be asked to produce roughly twice as much …

Read the original story from the LA Times It seems like every time you hear someone mention processed food, it’s accompanied with the words “bad” or “unhealthy,” plus a shaking finger. Unless you’re author Rachel Laudan. Laudan challenges the contemporary food movement and its belief that processed food is the enemy. She will give a talk on “What’s Not to …

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/20/disruptions-silicon-valleys-next-stop-the-kitchen/?_r=0 SAN FRANCISCO — Megan Miller knows that cockroaches are packed with protein and she says they can be made into a surprisingly tasty treat. But if that is a bit too avant-garde to believe, do you think you might like crickets if they were “ground up into a powder so you can’t see wings or legs?” Ms. Miller believes …

http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201310181630/c Deep in a sunny backyard in Los Angeles’ Silver Lake district, a colony of 50,000 Western honeybees is getting oriented to its new surroundings. Yesterday, the swarm was living under the eaves of a house in Whittier, some 20 miles away. But they’re here today because Walker Rollins and Kirk Anderson took the time to remove them — humanely. …

http://www.capitalpress.com/article/20131017/ARTICLE/131019914 There’s little that Barbara Allen-Diaz wouldn’t do to raise money for education. The vice president of the University of California-Davis agriculture department has promised to “wear” thousands of honey bees if she can raise $2,500 by Oct. 31 for the university’s “Promise for Education” campaign. If she can raise $5,000, she’ll eat insect larvae to promote awareness of alternative …