Reducing Rattlesnake-Human Conflicts

"A decade of research provides important insights into rattlesnake behavior that can be used by national parks and communities to reduce rattlesnake-human conflicts... The initial research effort examined the effects and effectiveness of relocating, or capturing and moving, nuisance snakes to different and sometimes distant locations... Reducing rattlesnake-human conflicts in developed areas can potentially result from making these areas less attractive to the small mammals and birds that rattlesnakes feed on during the summer foraging season... If a snake does need to be removed for safety reasons, then the best solution is to move the snake a short distance, less than 50 m (164 ft), to the nearest cover. A relocated snake should always be moved away from heavily used roads into habitat that is similar to that from which it was moved."

Build a Barn Owl Box, Modeled after an Original Design by Steve Simmons

"Barn Owls have been the subjects of wonder, wisdom, magical accoutrements, and folklore for ages. Their presence adds beauty and enchantment to the environment, and their significant rodent control skills comprise a very practical need for their presence. Habitat reduction has reduced their numbers over the last century, and an active program of owl box construction will help offset this."

Olives: Safe Methods for Home Pickling

"Methods For Curing Olives
Olives picked off the tree contain a very bitter compound called oleuropein. Harvested olives must be "cured" to remove the bitterness in order to make them palatable. The most common curing processes use brine, dry salt, water, or lye treatments. During these curing processes the water-soluble oleuropein compound is leached out of the olive flesh."

For the complete twenty-six page guide, click on the title above.

Climate change and wine: Observations, impacts and future implications

"While the exact spatial changes in the magnitude and rate of climate in the future are speculative at this point, what is clear is that the climates of the future, both over the short term and over the long-term, will be different than those today. Can we remain steadfast in our approaches to growing crops? Likely not. However, this uncertainty should not keep us from knowing the issues and acting accordingly," wrote Gregory V. Jones in the summer of 2006. He is a Professor and research climatologist in the Geography Department at Southern Oregon University who specializes in the study of how climate variability and change impact natural ecosystems and agriculture.

Purple needlegrass (Stipa pulchra, Nassella pulchra) was designated the official state grass of California in 2004.

This article (FREMONTIA A Journal of the California Native Plant Society, 1981) makes the argument that Stipa pulchra (Nassella pulchra) is the best candidate for the restoration of native grasslands. A widespread, native perennial bunchgrass that can live for 150 years, purple needlegrass ranges from the Oregon border into northern Baja California.

The Mystery of Masting in Trees

Some people have observed a bumper crop of acorns this year. This fine article addresses: "Some trees reproduce synchronously over large areas, with widespread
ecological effects, but how and why?"

Growing California Oaks

Collecting, storing and planting acorns

Home Landscaping For Fire

This is a link to a superb publication from the University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, that summarizes the lecture given by Wendi Chico, a founder of the Fire Safe Council in northern Shasta County, at the Turtle Bay Arboretum & Botanical Gardens, July 18, 2009.

Looking for Pollinators? Try Mason Bees

SARAH JACKSON, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Saturday, February 16, 2002

TUMWATER -- Bees, as many gardeners know, aren't all bad. Proud pollinators of the plant world, bees -- especially the solitary, friendly kind -- can be a gardener's best friend. Just ask Chris Eberle -- a bee buff.

Orchard mason bees helped Eberle's meager-yielding peach tree at his Tumwater home turn into a 500-fruit producer (with one extremely overloaded limb) -- after one year. But mostly, Eberle just likes the fun -- yes, fun -- of bees. "They're cute and they're fuzzy and they don't sting," Eberle said, standing in the garage of his Olympia home where he fashions his own mason bee boxes. "I've made a whole bunch of new ones for spring. I actually put up four today."

Now -- the very verge of spring -- is the time to think about orchard mason bees."

To read more about mason bees, click on the title above. Our local mason bee is known as Osmia Californica. To read more about the mason bee, visit Knox Cellars online. For a list of bee friendly plants, visit the Bug Squad at UCDavis online.